cHiPs
by lamatikah
Summary: Kairi believes that chips makes things all better, especially after her prince turned into a frog. Would she ever be able to get over what happened? .:SoKai:. .:Not Multipairings:. .:Mild Roxiri:.
1. chipsMAKElifeBETTER

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not own me ... Okay ... mayeb Kingdom Hearts owns me, but I don't own it ;-; Oh well, ON WITH THE STORY_

_Skitts: How come you never do disclaimers ... and now you are?_

_Me: ... -blink- I don't know..._

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterone.

.chips.MAKE.life.BETTER.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

Maybe if she had too many chips she'd get fat and die.

Maybe that would be good.

As she walked into the chip store, she noticed someone. A certain someone she didn't want to notice in her favourite store. Hopefully he'd leave before he noticed her. She squeezed her eyes shut, crossing her fingers, toes, arms, and anything else she could cross. Desperately hoping he didn't see her, skulking in the corner of the shop.

"Hey guys! Look! It's Fairy!" cried the brunet pointing at Kairi. She sighed, realizing that he'd noticed her. She walked out of the shop, her shoulders slumped and her eyes half closed. She'd just come back later for her daily dose of chips. "Oh no Fairy! You're staying here, we want to ask you a few questions!"

Kairi carried on walking away from him and his group of cronies. Maybe Naminé would cheer her up ... maybe. It was unlikely; Naminé was six and one of the most annoying things on this planet. Maybe Axel would cheer her up ... maybe. It was just as unlikely; Axel was seventeen and one of the most ... you could hardly call him annoying, it was more like 'Leave-me-alone-you-little-me-big' sort of things. Ah well, she could probably get a few digs from laughing at his shape. It was like Fuu's, or maybe even more girlier, yeah, she'd cheer herself up by laughing at Axel.

"Woah there Fairy! You're gonna listen to me before yo go!" Kairi felt a rough hand on her shoulder, she pushed it off angrily.

"Get off of me!" she shouted at Sora, who smirked.

"Oh dear, Fairy's upset, is she gonna run off to big bwuvver and tell him to beat us up?"

"Just get lost Sora."

"Have it your way," Kairi wondered how she'd got off so easily, maybe it was because he knew that Axel could seriously do serious damage if you got on his bad side. Kairi knew too, and she also knew that people could tease her about it, "But if you do tell big brother about this, then my _twin_ brother is going to know about something else!" teased Sora, smirking even more at the way Kairi's eyes widened.

"Y-You wouldn't! Y-You... I mea... JUST GET LOST YOU LOSER! I HATE YOU!" and with that, she ran off. Maybe she would tell Axel to beat them up. He could be sensitive sometimes. He knew about Sora and how the boy had hurt Kairi ... a lot.

As she rounded the corner to her house, she knew that she had made a mistake. This was not happening. No way. There was her own mother, being friendly with a traitor's mother. It made Kairi feel sick. Or maybe Kairi really had had too many chips.

"Kairi, are you alright, you look a bit peaky?" asked Arial. Kairi held a hand to her mouth, and shook her head, dashed inside the house, up the stairs and into the bathroom. It couldn't have been the chips. Chips were good. Chips made things better.

"Er ... Kai ... ri, you okay?" asked a familiar voice at the door. She swore under her breath. _Oh no, not him again_, she thought, desperately seeking escape from the tiny little bathroom. She could crawl out of the window and fall to her death, or climb down the toilet she was leaning over, or maybe... Who was she kidding, he could plainly see her from his position at the door. She stood up shakily, and made her way to the sink, taking sips of water from a plastic cup every so often.

"Gah! I think so. Now go away." Kairi told the boy, she turned to look at him, realising that it was not the boy she thought it was. Man, twins were confusing. "Oh, Roxas! I-I thought it was Sora... erm... sorry, I've gotta go, bye," she told him quickly. She didn't really know Roxas, she had just seen him around school and in class. But, she used to know him a little bit more than she did now. But she didn't like to think back to those days. They made her sad. The days when she had friends, it sounded like some sort of song title. At school, it was just a joke.

"Erm ... okay, sorry, I just thought ... okay..." Roxas went back downstairs. Kairi desperately wanted to go after him and say sorry, but she knew she shouldn't. It was stupid.

"Bye Roxas..." she muttered, making her way to her room. If Sora did tell Roxas about her crush on the boy, then he was going down. She knew that sounded cheesy, but Sora would regret he ever even said anything to Kairi.

She lay down on her bed, remembering days when she and Sora used to play together, she rolled over, groaning. She knew it wasn't the chips this time, she really was sick. Probably from the cold. She rushed to the bathroom again, and found it locked, she danced around a bit, before it opened and her brother came out in a towel. She had no time to question this odd idea of Axel, taking a shower in the middle of the afternoon, because as she rushed into the bathroom to throw up, she wasn't even thinking about Axel but about aiming herself at the right spot.

"Oh... sorry..." came the meek voice at the door again, it was Roxas, evidently, her mother had asked Roxas to check up on Kairi to see if she was alright because Arial just couldn't be bothered.

"S-S'alright ... I th-think..." Kairi mumbled, just before sneezing and going to the sink and getting some more water. She filled a glass, sipped it, grabbed a bucket and made her way to her room, Roxas staring after her. "You can go now if you want..." she told him, a little reluctantly.

"Erm... ok," he said, leaving her again.

She got back on her bed, this time safe in the knowledge that she wouldn't have to make another trip to the bathroom. Or school, for about a week at least. Yes, she wouldn't have to face the other kids who laughed at her and pushed her in mud and snow and other horrible things most people don't like being pushed into. When she was little, she had someone who would stop anyone who tried to hurt her at all. She had her own prince to rescue her from towers. But not anymore. Her prince had turned into a frog. Because of her.

Kairi groaned again, not out of stomach pains, but out of misery. She wanted her Sora back.

.x.x.x.

_A/N: Aye, tis a crappy start. Oh well, I'm sure it'll perk up ... sometime... Yeah, I just got an idea because my friend just got Kingdom Hearts and I asked her where she got it from and she said, "From inside Chips." and I was all, "MAGIC CHIPS!!" and then she told me it was a shop and I was like, "DO NOT TAKE AWAY THE IDEA OF MAGIC CHIPS!!" and so, I thought that maybe I should do a story, based around Kairi ... and chips... Excuse me now, I am off to get some chips... byeeeeeeeeee!!_


	2. mudANDblood

_Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER CISCLAIMER WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!_

_Skitts: ..._

_Me: HEE HEE!! I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS ... but it owns me hisssssss!_

_Skitts: ..._

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chaptertwo.

.mud.AND.blood.

Kairi woke up bight and early on Monday morning. She lumbered downstairs, still half-asleep, she tried to grope for the hand rail. She couldn't find one, consequently falling down the stairs in a very unfashionable manner.

"Holy Crap..." she muttered, rubbing her head, as she walked through into the kitchen. She sat down, and snaffled the last piece of toast which Axel had been about grab.

"HEY! GIMME MY TOAST!" Axel shouted indignantly, he wasn't having his little sister take _his_ toast. He'd only had four already, he needed five to make the breaking point.

"Sorry, you snooze; you lose!" Kairi reminded him cheerfully.

Ariel's (A/N: _I've no idea how you spell her name!!_) head popped round the corner of the alcove. How she actually fit round the back of it was a mystery to everyone in the family.

"Come on now, stop fighting! I've got more!" At this comment, Axel showed a greedy smile and rushed to the toaster, "Have you got your bag packed Kai?" Ariel asked her eldest daughter. Kairi gave a sort of muffled squeak and hurried to the hall, before stopping and remembering that she was sick.

"Mum, I can't go to school today..." she began, hoping with all the hope that she could muster that her mother would let her stay at home. She didn't want to go today, not today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, or after that, or that, or that...

"And why not?" Ariel asked her daughter firmly, she was flipping pancakes for Naminé who was waiting eagerly, as Axel was still munching down his toast.

"Because I'm sick," Kairi told her mother. She wasn't going to go into details, oh no.

"Well, you're not sick anymore, you're going to school, bye bye, off you go, bag packed, homework done, uniform ON! Now march up those stairs Kairi," she ordered Kairi. Kairi sighed angrily, and stomped up the stairs, ready to rip her uniform to shreds and blow her books to smithereens.

.O.x.O.

Kairi stood next to Axel as he talked to his friends. She needed to stay with him if she didn't want to be pushed into some puddle or something. Axel was talking to Demyx. Kairi liked Demyx; he was one of the very, very, very, very few people who didn't mind her, and sometimes stood up for her. Axel's other friends included: Larxene, who was in the even fewer minuscule group of people who had almost befriended Kairi, and Zexion, who was almost in that group because when all of Axel's friends came over, Zexion would go into Kairi's room and read. Odd, but Kairi liked him for that.

They pretty much the only people Kairi knew out of Axel's friends. She knew there were more, but Axel had decided against letting Kairi know who they were. They'd probably try and beat her up or something.

"So, Kairi, anything ... erm ... mean ... ? Happen to you lately?" Demyx asked Kairi, who suddenly fell out of daydream world with a bump.

"Wh-What? Oh- Oh yeah, erm ... well, yesterday..." she thought back to yesterday. To be honest he hadn't been that mean. He could be mean though. She knew he could be worse, much worse. Maybe, he was laying off her. Maybe. Or maybe the chips were doing it. They probably could.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

Demyx knelt down to Kairi's level and looked her in the eye, "Kairi, did anything happen to you yesterday?" Kairi knew that Demyx wouldn't go beating people up, so she could tell Demyx freely because Axel had gone off to talk to his 'other' friends. But even so, Sora hadn't done anything to her yesterday. She knew he could be worse, much worse. And since when was Demyx this keen to know whether Sora had been being mean to her?

"No, I was fine, nothing happened," Kairi told him happily, even so, there was a gulpy skip in her voice which made everything not seem fine. Kairi wanted to get away from his prying brain, so she merrily wandered off. _Please Don't Notice Me, please don't notice me, pleasedon'tnoticeme..._ drifting off into her train of thoughts, she didn't notice the boy behind her. Ironic really.

"There you go Fairy, I'm sure you'll enjoy that!" Sora sniggered after he had pushed Kairi into the nearest slump of snow. But not only was it snow, it was also, mud, rocks and partly brick from where the builders had been working next door. Lucky, lucky, lucky girl. Her face was not only cold, numb and sore, but it was also dirty, bleeding and scraped. She wanted to just stay in the nice big pile of snow. Stay there and die. But she got up with all the dignity she had left, which was still none, and left Sora, his cronies, and everyone watching and laughing.

She went straight to the girls' bathroom, to wash all the mud and blood off her face. Once she stepped in, she breathed a sigh of relief. Larxene was there. If anyone was in there, Kairi would've hoped it to be Larxene. As soon as Larxene saw Kairi, the younger burst out crying, letting all the tears she'd been holding fall.

"Aw, c'mere," Larxene welcomed Kairi into a hug, "Sora right?" Kairi mumbled a 'mm hmm'. Larxene let Kairi go and looked at her face, "Jeez, he doesn't know when to stop does he. Come on, let's have a look at this face then," Larxene started to get some wet tissue and dab at Kairi's face until all the mud and blood had been washed away and all that was left was the scrapes and cuts.

Larxene smiled at Kairi, "Better?" Kairi nodded, and as if on cue, the loud and monotonous bell resounded throughout the school. Making many a kid clamp their hands over their ears. "Off to class with you now! Have fun, try to stop Sora from pushing you into things, now, bye!" Larxene waved as Kairi exited from the bathroom, feeling a lot better.

"Aw, look at Fairy-diddums!" crooned Riku, one of Sora's cronies, as he pinned Kairi to a wall. She winced as he punched her in the stomach and then let her drop to the floor.

"Subtle, Riku, subtle..." she muttered, under her breath, as Sora came up and high-fived his friend. She stood up and began her journey of through hell and back. In fact, she felt like she'd probably prefer Hell to school. Because school meant Sora. And Sora meant worse than Hell.

.X.o.X.

_**Monday, 12th November **_

_I think Riku went a bit far when he shoved Kairi to the wall and punching her. I felt really sorry for her. I can't stand it when people start hurting her, she doesn't deserve it. But, what can I do? What can I do?_

.O.x.O.

When Kairi reached her locker at lunch, she was wary. Last time she had opened her locker, all her books were missing, the time before that, all her books fell on her head, the time before that there was a time bomb. No one had any idea what would happen when it went off. Not even Sora himself. But, apparently, on that same day there was a hurricane. Coincidence? They didn't think so, but they were eleven at the time. Yeah, Kairi didn't open her locker that much.

As Kairi opened her locker for the first time in eight months, she had her eyes squeezed tight shut and she had her body positioned at the side so that nothing could fall on her. As she pulled, she realised that she couldn't open her locker. She opened her eyes, and tried the sequence of numbers again, still failing. She pulled and pulled at her locker. It wasn't working. She shrugged and left it. She wasn't going to waste time when she could be eating chips on opening a locker which would have had something horrible waiting for her inside.

She left school with some older students to go to the chip store near school. At least the chips were on her side.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

.X.o.X.

"Kairi, you're fat," Axel told his sister bluntly. Kairi looked down at her tummy. She didn't look fat. Did she? Well, compared to Axel she did. Anyone compared with Axel looked morbidly obese. She sucked in her stomach.

"So! You want me to walk around like this do you?" she asked playfully, waltzing around, in a fairly humerous way, her chest sticking out and her ribs fairly visible underneath her pink and white dress. She had decided to change out of her uniform as soon as she got home. Uniforms depressed her. No wonder.

"Guys! Come into the kitchen and greet your guest!" Kairi could hear her mother call from the kitchen. The auburn haired girl inflated her deprived stomach of air again and wandered into the kitchen. Naminé was sitting on the guest's lap and he looked a bit ... offish with her there. Naminé was just chatting away about things to him, and he was nodding, very, very slowly. Kairi pouted and sat on the small sofa and the back of the room. Why was he and his brother always at her house.

"So, Cinds, as I was saying. He didn't seem too happy with the outcome of the finals. He was..." Kairi flopped her head on the sofa, as she listened to her mother talk to the traitor's mother about the swimming finals. Her mum worked as a swimmer and was usually paid money for being one. Her dad was never around. He was a soldier and was never there. She wondered whether he would be home for Christmas. Last year he wasn't and Naminé had cried all day.

"Hi ... Kairi..." murmured a voice next to her. Kairi looked up, and was face to face with none other than the traitor's twin. Her mouth started bobbing up and down like a fish's.

"Nice look Kairi! Try it at school, I'll betcha'll get some friends then- OW!" Kairi laughed as Naminé hit him for not paying attention to her. But then she pouted as she realised that he had just been horrible about her.

"Heh, my brother's stupid sometimes, just ignore him," Roxas told her.

"Oh I do, I do..." Kairi told him, glaring at Sora, who pulled a playful face at her. She gasped quietly, when was the last time he had actually been _playfully_ mean to her. He hadn't been mean, he had been playful! There was a difference. Sora blushed and turned away. Roxas giggled nervously.

"Anyways... erm..." Roxas started, not quite sure what to say.

"Do you want to go watch some TV in the other room?" asked Kairi, happily, taking Roxas' hand and leading him into the living room, on her way out she stuck her tongue out at Sora who still had Naminé chattering to him on his lap.

.x.x.x.

_A/N: Sorry, still a really short chapter. Okay, I owe you a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG chapter now. I promisepromisepromise to make it at least ... erm ... TEN pages long!! -LE GASPE- (she'll never make it) THAT'S RIGHT TENTENTEN, not thirty, just ten, I'm trying to make a point... Anyways, -LE GASPE- Whose mysterious diary entry is this?? All will be revealed ... not in the next chapter ... a lot later on, but hey-ho! It'll keep you on your toes! TTFN!_

_NB The reason I'm updating a day early is because I'm going to my cousin's house ... see! I DO HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE HEV!! _


	3. iHATEyou

_Disclaimer: ... Kingdom Hearts does not own me, but I own it... wait ... wrong, I do not own Kingdom Hearts but it owns me... YAY! That's right! _

_Skitts: ...You're weird... BUT SO AM I -partays-_

_Both: -partays-_

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterfour.

.i.HATE.you.

She could feel the pain writhe through her, little devilish pricks streaking up through her body as she fell to the ground; the devilish pricks turning into whole chunks of pain, hacking away at her. Making her head spin and her body shake. She could hear them laughing. She could hear laughing. At least someone was happy. She used to be happy. Not long ago. Not happy now.

Her eyelids flickered for a few seconds before she blacked out.

"Er... guys, I think she's really hurt..." Sora looked at his 'friends' as they laughed at the obviously hurt girl, who had just a minute ago been squirming around on the floor.

"Dude, who cares? She was ickle bickle Fairy, no one except your traitor brother is gonna care," Sora eyed Riku suspiciously, he felt like panicking, screaming right in front of them, 'HOW COULD YOU JUST STAND THERE AND LAUGH WHILE SHE'S DYING, DYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!'. But he didn't. He didn't, "Anyways, I thought you wanted to get him back..."

Sora mentally stabbed himself, _Not by hurting Kairi... no Sora, you WANT to hurt Kairi, you just ... just ... Ah screw it..._.

"Come on, I'm going!" Tidus, another of Sora's little 'gang', told the others, "If she wakes up, or someone finds us with her then we are going _dooooown_!!" he laughed. Sora mentally broke down, how could they even joke about this.

"Yeah, you coming Sora, or shall we leave you with your _girlfriend_?" teased Riku. Sora sank to his knees in his grief.

"Shuddup Riku..." he muttered, banging his head on the ground.

"Ri-ight... man..." noted Wakka, as he watched Sora do this with mild amusement, "Well, we're going now ya? You comin' or not, man?" he aske. Sora shook his head profusely as the others backed away from the crazy boy banging his head on the park floor frequently.

When Sora finished his little head-banging moment, he realised there were some tears in his eyes from the pain. But that made him remember the pain the girl beside him must have endured, and that brought even more tears to his eyes. He crawled up to her, having to pat his hands on the floor a bit, as it was getting ... well, very dark.

His hands finally found Kairi's. He took it and crawled even closer. He rested one of his hands on her head and stroked her head. He was completely oblivious to the watchful eyes resting upon him and the girl. He had started crying again. He had forgotten all about 'how much he hated her' and 'how she was his enemy'. Now she was just his little Kairi, his little Kairi, his _hurt _little Kairi.

"I-I'm sorry Kai, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean any of it; I-I was being stupid an-and I-I..." and with that even more liquid spilled down his tear-stained cheeks. "I love you Kai, I'm sorry..."

He sank down, as rain started to drip-drip-drip down his nose. His eyes, now red from all the crying, closed as he breathed deeply, inhaling the misty air. He was a failure, a failure with no purpose. Kairi hated him, and he was on bad terms with his brother for calling him a traitor. Now, his friends probably didn't want anything to do with him anymore. There was only one thing he could do – help Kairi.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. Then, he picked Kairi up, bridal style and took her to the only place he felt safe leaving her in. Also, one he felt safe going to. He started on his way. He shivered, and realised how cold it was, if only he had been intelligent enough to have brought a coat or something. Then he could stop two people from being cold. Damn you sun... making it seem like a hot day... damn you to hell...

He finally made it to the back of the park. He eyed the old club house. It looked stable enough. Lats time he'd been in it was eight years ago. Some hobo was probably living in there now. He tentatively stepped up the three little steps he knew so well and pulled the door open. It took some time because it hadn't been used in eight years.

He smiled faintly as he entered the small building, it was round, and only about five metres wide in diameter. He found a corner which was not infested with random children toys or gross stuff which looked as though it had been off date (even though it _had_ no date) for a LONG time...

As he lowered her down, he could see a tear slipping out of one of her eyes. He wiped it away with his finger and bent down to hug her. As he pressed her against him, he realised that he missed her, and the memories came flooding back.

"_Don't forget to be my friend forever and ever and ever and ever!"_

**s _c r_**_ a _t c **_h_**

"_Never leave you Kai,"_

**s _c r_**_ a _t c **_h_**

"_You look pretty Sora!"_

**s _c r_**_ a _t c **_h_**

"_Make sure you write in your diary that you're too busy, because you're seeing me!"_

**s _c r_**_ a _t c **_h_**

"_Forever and ever Sora, forever,"_

"Forever and ever Kai, forever..." Sora whispered, linking his little finger in hers. He felt stupid doing it; she was knocked out after all. But that helped him because she wouldn't be able to see him do it. He rested her back down reluctantly, he wanted to hold her forever. He wanted her forever like she said they would be. "Forever..." he muttered under his breath again. "Forever didn't take long..."

.O.x.O.

Kairi stomped through the school, obviously severely pissed off with something. Or someone. As she turned a corner, she stopped suddenly; wishing she had friends. It was a sudden change of moods, but that's what puberty did to you. She sat down on the floor, hoping no one would see her.

When she had woken up after Riku had punched her, she had found herself next to a sleeping Sora with severe headache, stomach ache and neck ache (from the position she had been in). She had woken Sora up, and he didn't seem too happy about it, but she wasn't too happy about how she was feeling at the time too.

Once she had woken him up, she suddenly felt her stomach lurch and ... well, the inevitable happened, but not before she had time to run outside and do it in the trees where no one could see her. When she came back she was shaking and Sora was looking a bit shocked over the whole ordeal. She threw him a (shaky) glare and sat down, before she realised where she was.

As she remembered the nostalgic feeling rise through her in that little confined space she had been sharing with Sora, her eyes misted over as a small tear trickled out of her eye. So many memories.

"_Yay Sora! You did it! I knew you could beat Riku!" _

_s c** r a **_**t **c **h**

"_I'll only do stuff for you, if I did stuff for Riku then I'd be stupid!"_

_s c** r a **_**t **c **h**

"_You'll be my best friend forever and ever and ever, and if you're not then you're my enemy, and you don't want that do you?"_

_s c** r a **_**t **c **h**

"_I'd give up all my toys for you Kai, you know I would!"_

_s c** r a **_**t **c **h**

"_Forever and ever Kai, forever..."_

"Y-yeah, right... forever? Forever d-didn't take long..." Kairi muttered, as a boy's voice took her out of her misery. Her head shot up, thinking it was Riku about to hurt her again.

Roxas melted as he saw Kairi's tear stained, innocent, worried face flick up. "Kai, what's up?" he asked softly, he sat down next to her; wanting to know more about her tears.

"N-Nothing, i-it's nothing..." she mumbled, wiping her eyes. Roxas put an arm round her shoulders and took her chin in his hand gently.

"It's wasn't nothing, but now it is; because I'm here. Aww... sometimes you love me _too_ much," he joked, smiling at her. She smiled back as he let go of his grip on her chin. He stood up, giving her his hand. She took it gratefully and they made their way to whatever lesson was next.

As Kairi left the classroom, smiling, just a little bit, she noticed something she didn't want to notice.

"Aw, is Fairy scared of the big boy?" the boy teased, towering over her, smirking. Kairi backed away, in her haste she tripped over someone's bag or something. Maybe someone purposely did it, anyhow, Kairi tripping up was a really bad thing for the said girl. As Riku loomed closer, laughing now. As she cowered on the floor, she noticed Sora behind Riku, looking a bit sheepish. Suddenly she burst into tears. She didn't want ... anything anymore.

"If you hurt me Riku, hurt me bad, kill me Riku..." she told the taller boy. He just laughed at her comment. She felt some happiness as she saw Sora's eyes widen as she stood up, her hands by her sides and her closed her eyes.

Fist.

Laugh.

Black.

.X.o.X.

**Monday, 19th November**

_I was meant to protect her... I didn't. Why didn't I do something? I should've done something. She was knocked out again, at least I could so something then. So I took her to the nurse. Heh, there are going to be some new kids in school, next month – I'll probably have to look after them too. Please, please, please stop this. I hate it._

.O.x.O.

She laughed when he punched her. That's what scared him the most. She laughed.

He couldn't stop thinking about that laugh as he walked through school, as he walked home, as he lay in bed thinking about it.

She laughed when he punched her.

She told him to kill her.

He laughed at her.

And she laughed with him.

That's what scared him the most.

.X.o.X.

"Riku, I think you should lay off Ka- Fairy for a bit, I mean, she's had her share for this term right?" The boy only laughed and ruffled the younger's hair.

"Sora, Sora, Sora. She's FAIRY! Doncha geddit? Who cares if she's had her 'fair share'? Anyways, I think the punching her in the stomach has got a bit ... old ... what do you think? I mean, I want original ideas, new ones. I want to hurt her, but I can't think how..." Riku continued his rant, as Sora just nodded when he felt was right and said 'yes' every now and then. "Great idea! Well, see you next period! I'll do it at lunch,"

Sora gaped after him, realising, a) the bell had just gone and b) he had just sent Riku off on a near enough murder mission to Kairi. But, he didn't care about her. As he walked off, he felt the guilt shrug off him. He itched his shoulders. He wasn't sure whether it really had gone or not. Why would he be feeling guilt anyway? He shook his head, laughing nervously.

"You liiikke her!" a voice came from behind, "You likelikelike her!" Sora could recognise that cocky voice from anywhere. "But you better lay off her; she's mine!"

"Oh yeah, I like ickle Fairy who I've hated for eight years, yeah, I love her so much Roxy, please give her up so I can have her," Sora told him sarcastically, "Pfft, please, I have my eye on ... someone better..." Roxas grinned evilly.

"Like who? Come on, we're brothers, you have to tell me! Brother's code..."

"No."

"Come on!"

"No."

"It _is_ Kairi then!"

"No."

"Yes, it is!"

"No."

"I'm gonna tell her!"

"No."

.X.x.X.

_A/N: YAY! Yet another chapter done!! Tut tut Roxy, you're being cocky – who likes that? Now you see, if I were Kairi, I'd dump him for being mean to Sora. But Kairi doesn't know about this little conversation so... OH WELL! Yay! SOKAI FLUFF! And crying ... lotsa crying. I think I might change it to Humor/Angst... what do YOU think? Me likes fluff because me can do it sort of... but apparently most people don't like it... so I'll try and stop the fluffy stuff... kay?_


	4. iNEEDcomfort

_Disclaimer: KH IS COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!! I LIKE KH BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!! iT OwNs mE BuT I DoN'T oWn iT ... iF I DiD ThEn aXeL AnD RoXaS wOuLd hAvE A PrOpEr ReLaTiOnShIp ... AnD rIkU AnD NaMiNé wOuLd bE A CoUpLe tOo... ;-; THERE WOULD BE MORE HUGGING TOO . _

_Skitts: And not just Donald attacking Mickett Mos..._

_Lamatikah: -shudders-_

_Skitts: HEHE! I R ACTUALLY HERE NOW AND WATCHING LAMATIKAH WRITE THIS!!_

_Lamatikah: ..._

_A/N: Sorry about the double update... the thing was all underlined and I couldn't be bothered to check it in documents... -bows head in shame- Sorry... please forgive me by reading this chapter and reviewing... Lots of reviews and make 'em good too!_

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterfive.

Naminé was getting too excited for Kairi's liking. Kairi was in fact getting rather annoyed at the girl's constant jumping and ... jumping. She winced as the blonde girl beside her hit her head on the radiator.

"Naminé! Stop it; you're being really annoying!" Kairi hissed, causing her little sister to shriek in fright. Kairi stepped back, smirking, enjoying the total control she had over the little being beside her.

"DADDY!" Naminé rushed over to a tall man, with blond hair. He pushed the corners of his lips up but didn't quite manage a smile. However, this was the closest he ever got to one. Naminé rushed into his arms, causing his suitcases to fall to the floor. Cloud grimaced a bit, but Axel soon picked them up for him and Kairi just smiled awkwardly. She preferred Cloud to Ariel, but that didn't mean she was comfortable around him.

"Hello Naminé." The man said, with no emotion at all. Ariel suddenly appeared behind Kairi, giggling like a happy school girl. Cloud tried to smile again, but failed ... again. Naminé giggled happily, as Cloud picked her up and put her on his shoulders. Naminé giggled again, and all five set off for the car park. Kairi and Axel really didn't see the point in going all the way to the airport ... and then going all the way back but if it's what they had to do then it's what they had to do.

.O.x.O.

Kairi winced as she looked at Riku. Since yesterday, her head had never felt the same. But she didn't feel like telling anyone, a) because she never did anyway, and b) because she didn't want to make her mother upset when the woman was so happy about seeing her husband again.

Riku smirked at Kairi, so the red-head turned away. Suddenly everything went dizzy and she couldn't feel anything. She just sat there, clutching her head and gritting her teeth. She could hear Riku laugh, so she did the only thing she thought was what she could do. She laughed along with him. Suddenly enjoying the pain. She kept on laughing, her face cracking into a smile, a real smile. She didn't know whether she was happy, she felt like it. But that might have just been the dizziness.

The girl felt a gentle hand on her back and she turned round to see Roxas, looking at her worriedly. She was still clutching her head, rocking back and forth on her chair, laughing hysterically. Tears fell down her face still while she was giggling constantly, she suddenly felt herself being pulled towards him. He stroked her hair until she calmed down and he could feel her breathing normally again. When she was he lowered down to chair level and looked her in the eye.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" he asked her, trying not to sound panicky, because he was.

"N-No-Noth-Nothin-Nothing..." she replied, her breathing increasing again, he placed his hands on her shoulder to try and stop her from jittering. She wouldn't stop though. Roxas suddenly panicked, as his brother appeared. Sora looked a little worried as well.

"Kai? I-I mean Kairi? Wh-What's wrong? Please don't..." Sora's voice sounded just as panicky as Roxas'. This scared Kairi. What if something was wrong with her? Maybe her head was going to explode, it sure felt like it. Or maybe it had already exploded. She felt a scream part from her lips, a silent scream, which deafened her insides. Sora and Roxas glanced at her worriedly. Sora turned to Riku. He didn't know what to do. He liked the idea of screaming inside. But, that seemed like a girly thing to do. Suddenly his train of thoughts was stopped abruptly.

"Froggienobyebyeprincycomeandfroggiebutprincessfroggieit'sbyebye..." he heard the girl babble. This was all Riku's fault. Kairi had lost her mind. She suddenly clutched her head again and started to laugh. Riku was just staring at her a little oddly, Tidus and Wakka were whispering something which sounded along the lines of either, 'Dude, what have we done; I think the aliens have landed.' or 'Dude, what have we done; I think Kairi's really lost it.' Either way, it didn't make sense to Sora as he watched the girl giggle helplessly. He pushed in front of Roxas who apparently had passed out with his eyes open and was now completely useless, or just in shock. The brunet grabbed Kairi by the wrists.

"Kairi – stop it. NOW!" he ordered her. She suddenly stopped laughing and noticed the whole class was looking at her. She blinked before a few tears came sliding down her cheek.

"I hate lockers..." was all she said, before collapsing onto Sora in a most undignified way.

.X.o.X.

_**Monday. 19th November**_

_It happened again, how will this ever stop? I need to do something – Kairi'll not get hurt, not like ... she did..._

.O.x.O.

Sora sauntered up to Riku, trying to act cool and happy and 'Sora-ish'. But, he couldn't help but take deep breaths every now and then, or stumble a little over a crack in the floor. He wanted to know what the boy had done to Kairi to make her _that_ bad.

Riku smirked as Sora appeared; Riku never did anything but smirk nowadays and it was starting to get on Sora's nerves. Nevertheless he marched on, his quest to find out what was wrong with Kairi not being abolished by the random giggle he got when he almost tripped over some girl.

"Riku... what did you do to Ka- Fairy yesterday again?" asked Sora in a what he thought to be a casual tone, but turned out sounding rather like a little boy asking his mother for chocolate.

"Well, first of all, she was walking past me while I was getting something out my locker," Sora wasn't sure whether the rest was going to have to be told to him after nine pm or not. It sure sounded like it, "And then I got her by the neck, and pulled her back into the locker, and started to hit her head against it. The weird thing is, it looked like she was trying to hide back ... laughter..." Riku said, suddenly looking as though he had just seen a ghost, "It was so scary... I was worried at first, but then I-I got so scared I-I pushed her down to the floor a-and kicked her a-a bit and ... stuff... then I left her... she was still laughing a-and..." Sora nodded, trying to force back the anger; Riku was a complete and utter bastard for doing that. What had Kairi ever done to him? What had Kairi ever done to Sora in fact... huh, it was funny; he'd been lost in his own little world for so long, he'd forgotten. Funny.

As Sora stormed down the hallway, hoping to find someone or something to open up to he found his brother sitting next to Kairi in an empty class room. Sora couldn't help but take a peek and see what was happening. Suddenly, the two in the room were kissing, and Sora felt a lump in his throat and what felt like a balloon bursting inside him.

He stepped back, breathing heavily, _Stop it Sora; you hate her, you HATE her! Hatehatehate!! That's it! Hate! Keep thinking that Sora old boy – HATE!! Hate with a capital L-O-V-E ... Wait a minute, that sounded a bit wrong... Maybe... Oh well... He was sure 'hate' was spelled something like that..._

He suddenly heard a girl giggling in the class room, his heart sank. Dammit.

He'd just shrug it off, maybe if he tried _real_ hard, he'd be able to pretend that he never jumped inside when he heard that giggle. He walked off, he'd go get some chips somewhere.

.X.o.X.

"Dude, you do not, I repeat _not_, envision Lolz... Grah! Urk! Ju-Just... No!" Sora blinked as he heard the familiar voices drifted out to him from inside the tiny little shop. He walked in and heard the obviously new bell tinkle above his head.

He smiled as he suddenly saw his 'long lost' friends.

"What's he be- EW! No, no, no, don't eve- Helloooo, we have a customer! Come right in mister... HEY! You look familiar!" Lolli started, pointing 'subtly' at their new customer.

"It's me, Sora, reme-" Sora was suddenly cut off by a rugby tackle. He made a slight 'oof' sound as he looked up from his position on the floor. A boy who was wiping his hands of ... nothing, just doing it for the pure sake of it was staring down at him, laughing mockingly. Sora pulled a face.

"IT'S HIM GUYS! AND I RUGBY TACKLED THE GUY!! WOOHOO! SCORE!" The others gave Eddy strange looks, Kay even dropped her tea cloth. "It's SORA – you KNOW, the one who bullies Kairi!!"

"Oh yeah! I've been waiting to see him. Aw... Dammit... I wasn't able to do the James Bond thing about it..." came the response from a blonde who was sitting in one of the tacky plastic chairs she presumed to be the biggest and was stroking some sort of spoon, possibly mistaking it for a kitten or cat of some strange, strange sort...

"Ray?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with you guys?"

"..." Ray paused for a moment, trying to realise what she had done. Kay, Chell and Lolz suddenly appeared behind Eddy. "I don't know... you never seen me stroke a spoon?"

"Well, no not really... but I've seen you stroke a frying pan before..." muttered Sora, thoroughly freaked out.

There was a long pause as questioning faces turned to Ray's, "BUT THAT'S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MATTER!"

Chell decided to take this moment to relive some old, old joke they had oviously kept long, long ago, about some crazy old duck they'd met at the park. "Don't worry Ray, there will be plenty of frying pans to stroke where you're going."

Ray shook her fist in the general direction of Chell.

"So, to ask the question we've all been asking... mentally of course or else you would have known what it was. But actually you probably do already know the question I'm about to ask. Hehe. I'm rambling."

"..."

"Oh yeah, question! Why are you bullying Kai?"

"B-Because..." did Sora dare tell the children of the deep, meaningful and possibly life threatening psychological matters that existed in his mind? "Because... I don't know..." Sora suddenly found his trainers a great deal more interesting. Even though they were on the same level as him; he was still on the floor. He suddenly felt a hand reach out.

"Don't worry. You're still our friend, we just don't have any school at the moment and don't know how to react to it..." Sora nodded and was helped up by Lolz. Eddy had a look of pure hatred painted on his features. Sora laughed.

"Aw, he looks so cute when he's angry!" Another rugby tackle had him on the floor in seconds again.

"NO ONE CAN CALL ME CUTE EXCEPT FOR LOLLI AND CHELL!" An indignant noise could be heard from Ray at that moment, "AND RAY ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS!"

And suddenly Ray could be found dancing on the table, "YAY! Me gots OPTIONS! YOU HEAR THAT GIRLS – OPTIONS. Not, that I'd use that one option – tis a crappy one..."

.O.x.O.

"Axel... Axel please wake up... please..." Axel groaned and turned over, mumbling a 'what?'. Kairi had been crying but Axel felt no sympathy; she had just woken him up at God knows what time and he _really_ didn't appreciate that sort of thing. "Axel, I don't know what to do and Naminé's awake too, she's getting really scared and so am I and please help us Axel..."

"Gerroffmeandoutofmyroom..." was all Axel could muster as he watched the retreating figure of Kairi, slink silently and sadly away. Axel rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. But he found he couldn't. He could hear the shouts coming from downstairs and the soft simper every now and then coming from outside. Naminé and Kairi were probably sitting on the first step of the staircase, and Axel wouldn't put it past Naminé to start crying at a time like this. Axel groaned and rolled over, slipping out of bed. He had forgotten that Kairi and Naminé didn't know about this little problem.

He walked onto the landing, and creeped up behind Kairi, causing her to jump.

"Holy Crap Axel! You scared the hell out of me!" Axel could tell she was trying to joke about, maybe make the situation a little better, but she wasn't doing very well. Naminé was tucked under her arm and tear streaks could be seen ruining her cute little features. She wasn't crying anymore; it was as though she had run out of tears to cry. Kairi's eyes were a little red too and Axel suddenly felt a surge of sympathy which almost immediately broke away when he remembered when he first heard the shouting.

_He was five. Five years old. Five. He would sit on the stairs and cry. Waiting for the shouting to stop. Just waiting. And crying. He would hear his little sister in the other room. She was sleeping. And he was crying. _

_And then he would be jealous. Rage. Cry. Sit. Sleep. Shout._

Axel suddenly felt something very wet trying to creep out of his eye. He tried to ignore it but it wouldn't stop prickling at the corner of his emerald eyes. He brushed it away and found that there was more than he realised. As his hand stroked past his eye, and smeared some sort of salty liquid all over his cheek. He rubbed the watery substance off and ran back to his room, leaving his little sisters all alone, just to listen to the shouting coming from downstairs.

As he laid in his bed, trying to get back to sleep, he thought about Kairi's face when she had come into his room. She looked more worried than he had done when he was little. And he had been a very traumatised little boy. She could have been worried about Naminé... But Axel knew Kairi and he also knew that in times of need and panic, she doesn't care about anyone but herself. That was why she felt so messed up now. Because of a stupid little mistake when she was little.

Axel rolled over, thinking about the little scheme that he had heard about. He wasn't really interested in it. But he still gave the information the people needed. He rolled over again. It was going to be a long night.

.X.o.X.

"Roxas?"

"Mmm..."

"Roxas, can I talk to you about something?" Roxas turned round, so his arm was leaning over the bed Kairi was seated on. He smiled sweetly, and nodded, "Well..." Kairi found that playing with your thumbs was a fun thing to do today. "You see... every night now... I hear them shouting at each other... and A-Axel didn't care... and Naminé was crying and ... she made me cry... and Axel didn't care... but he should!" Kairi could feel the pricks in her eyes, daring them to water, daring them to fail her.

Roxas paused for a moment, he couldn't help but think: _Boy, what a messed up kid..._ He sat on the bed next to her and levered his arm over her shoulders, and kissed her forehead. "S'okay, see, you've still got me," Roxas smiled at her. He hoped he could make her happy. If he didn't then he'd be wrecking his purpose in her life. He'd talk to Sora about it; Sora and Kairi went way back so maybe he'd know what to do.

"Roxas honey, we're going now, come on!" called the voice of Roxas' mother, trying to take Roxas away from the thoroughly distressed auburn. Roxas wanted to stay, but his mother could be very ... persuasive...

"Bye..." he whispered, kissing her forehead again. She waved, wishing he could stay, without him she felt alone, so alone. As soon as he was out of sight, and she'd waved to him out the window, she laid her head on her pillow and cried.

As Roxas got into the car, he sighed heavily. Sora smirked, "Have fun with Fairy?" he asked, greatly enjoying the fact that Roxas was a weak subject when it came to the boy's girlfriend.

"You know you look like Riku when you do that."

Sora's smirk disappeared immediately. Instead he scowled.

"Now you look like Tidus!" Roxas happily informed his older brother (by 7.53 minutes exactly).

Sora drew a pained smile to his face, "I bet now you're going to say that I look like Wakka!" he cried out.

"Well... actually I think you look like Mickey Mou-"

Sora jumped up and slammed his head on the roof of the car. "Ow... YOU'VE TAKEN IT TOO FAR THIS TIME ROXAS... I COULD EVEN SAY YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE. IN FACT, YOU'RE SO FAR OVER THE LINE THAT THE LINE IS A _DOT_ TO YOU!" He quickly realised that the car was not moving and that their mother had been keenly watching this little scene with a stuck smile of pure hilarity fixed to her face.

"Erm... mom, can you please stop listening to our conversation; it's kinda private..." Cinderella nodded slowly, and turned up her music: _Disney Classics._ Even through doing this she strained her ears, hungry for gossip to share at the hairdressers. Suddenly she heard a dull thump. Damn that sound-proof screen they had installed in the car. It usually helped Cinderella when the boys were fighting in the back and she couldn't be bothered to listen to them. At the moment it was stopping her gossipy mind get the better of her.

"Sora... you know you know Kairi... like really well..." Sora pouted and Roxas waited for the inevitable 'shut up about that, I was only her friend because I pitied her' lecture thing. But it didn't come. Odd. But Roxas took this as an opportunity to tell Sora of her worries, and ask him what to do about it. Once he'd finished, Sora had a number of emotions scraped through his features. "So what should I do..."

Sora's emotions seemed to include, shock, unhappiness, anger and possibly, or maybe most of all pity. " I think... I think... Shut up... I think you should shut up; I don't like Fairy, I don't know Fairy. Shut up and go away. Shut up."

Roxas blinked.

.X.x.X.

_A/N: Woot! Eight pages!! I'm sure you luffed that chapter :3!! I was moshing – a.k.a. head banging - to Enya all the way through it (if you don't know what Enya is, she writes really slow and pretty music) xD. How the hell you do that... not even I know... Anyways, next chapter includes MORE KAIRI-BASHING (;-;) RIKU-BASHING (...I like Riku ... although you can't really tell for this story... I guess for Kairi it's - :D) MORE OF THE CAMEOS (I like them :3 you prob'ly don't... xP) AND GASPING!! -LE GASPE- What a funfilled chapter we have coming up!!_


	5. newKIDSrule

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chaptersix.

.new.

"And what? It's not like it's _my_ fault we're here!"

"Yes it is!"

"Shuddup. Anyways, you're meant to be on my side!"

"Look just stop it. We're here now! Okay, enough, finito, capiche, cemprende?"

"Just 'cause you're older..."

"Okay you lot, j-just be quiet... people are looking..."

"I DON'T CARE! HEY EVERYBODY – LOOK IT'S ME!!"

"Yeah! AND MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"AND ME!"

"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!"

"A-And me..."

"Me makes ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... ah screw it, AND ME!!"

"I MAKE SEVEN!"

"Boff, always trying to be better than me!"

"Wanna make something of it?"

"If you're asking!"

"Okay, okay, that's enough now! Please, just stop it guys okay, let's just make first day, yeah? Good!"

As the eight walked round school, heads turned to gaze in wonder at the weird peep show that was the new kid's lives. Some boys wolf-whistled at the six girls, and the two boys just crossed their arms and grumbled. Most of the girls talked to each other, trying to make it seem like they were ignoring the laughs coming from the kids.

They all suddenly realised that they had no idea of where they were going or where they were meant to be. A brunette raised her hand, lowered it, then put it to her mouth.

"Erm... where exactly _are_ we going?" she asked Olette, the eldest in the group. Olette frowned, she was meant to be looking after the 'little-uns', but she had no idea what she doing either.

"I really don't know, here, I'll ask someone," Olette nervously walked up to an older boy who was talking to two other people, a blonde girl and a red-headed boy. "Erm... excuse me, we're new here and we were wondering if you could tell us where we're meant to go?"

The boy looked confused for a second, then his face brightened. He clapped his hands together, "Oh yeah! Yeah, I know where you're meant to be going!" The blonde girl, who had originally been scowling at the red-head, looked down kindly at the kids. And the red-head just crossed his arms.

"Hey! I know you!" cried the blonde one of the little kids, a few confused looks and then all the younger children except for Olette were nodding too, "You're Kairi's brother!"

"How do you know my sister?"

"Because ... I don't know, how do we know her Verdi?" the girl who had just exclaimed this did look familiar to Axel, she had black hair, one brown eye, one green, a black top with a silver moon on it, black skirt drifting down to her knees and big black boots, similar to those donned by the girl next to her, except the girl next to her wore brown boots with crosses up them every few inches or so. The boots strangely reminded Axel of that girl's socks in the year below him ... what was her name? Yoo something...

"Because we were eating some chips that we had to share between us and then Kairi came along and stole then, and we chased her and we got her cornered and then she said, 'For seven year olds you're really scary.' and we said, 'Actually we're six.' and so our friendship was born..." Verdi explained, in a monotone. Axel pulled a face, what a weird, messed up little boy. "High five Eddy, I got it first try!"

"... Stop IT! It's not funny when you try to freak people out; we want to make a good impression!" The girl with the moon on her top turned round, "My name's Lolli!" The girl named 'Lolli' smiled, and held out her hand. Just before Demyx could shake it though, she waved her arms round and pointed at each kid, "This is Ray, she's basically the leader," at this point Lolli kicked 'Ray' in the shin, this gained her a glare. These kids looked nice.

"I'm Chell,"

"... W-were you ... HOLY CRAP, YOU WERE NORMAL!!"

"We'll ignore that comment... anyways, I'm Thea, and I don't like Eddy because he's gay..." Ray gave her a thumbs up sign and Thea returned it. Thea had short, chocolate brown and up in a high ponytail with a side fringe. She was wearing a hooded jacket and a short red tartan skirt with black and white leggins.

"Aw, do you like me?" asked the other boy, the one who was obviously always in competition with Eddy.

"No Verdi, I do not like you."

Axel counted on his fingers, how the hell was he supposed to remember all of these goddam names. Oh well, it seemed like Demyx could.

"Okay, Lolli, Ray, Chell, Eddy, Thea, Verdi, and you are?" at this point Demyx looked at the older girl who was dressed in mainly orange.

"I'm Olette, but you really don't have to remember, I can't even remember some of their names..." Olette turned to see that the two boys were fighting and Ray and Lolli were having a fun time of 'who-can-kick-each-others-shins-harder', "Boys, stop it! Ray, Lolz – quit it!" Verdi and Eddy stopped, much to the disappointment of Thea, who seemed to enjoy watching the two boys suffer. Ray and Lolli stopped too, getting bored of their new found game...

"Okay, Olette! If you and the others would follow me then... Holy Shit!" the younger's giggled to hear someone of an obviously high authority swear like that, but when they turned round they realised there was nothing to be laughing about.

"Kai? Kairi?" Ray ran up to her friend, closely followed by Chell, Demyx and Lolli. Olette, Thea and Kay had no idea what to do. Verdi and Eddy were fighting, having not noticed what had just happened. Ray shook the girl lying on the floor.

"Ha! She's got the new kids on her side, what a loser!" cried the silver haired weirdo who'd just knocked Kairi to the floor.

"Hey look, it's Sora! Hi Sora!" Verdi suddenly switched off from his fight to stop and wave at Sora, Eddy suddenly tackled him to the floor, "Dammit ... always one step ahead..." muttered the boy.

Sora looked at Riku, then at Verdi, "Hey ... Verdi..." he called out, trying to sound cool but utterly failing as his voice went all high pitched and squeaky, "Well... this is awkward..." he concluded.

.X.o.X.

"So you just like, _let_ him do stuff like that to you?" Kairi breathed in heavily. Such little children, should their little minds really be indulged in such violent images. They shouldn't. But it's not like it's her fault. It's Riku's fault. Yeah, Riku's fault.

She was lying to herself and she knew it.

All lies.

Everything damn thing in her damned life were lies.

LIES. LIES. LIES.

"Yeah..." Kairi lowered her head, ashamed of the way she just let Riku hurt her. She picked at her chips. Huh, for once in her life, chips didn't make everything better. How could say that? Chips always made life better, always.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

She munched down a few more chips just to prove a point.

"Hmm... I never thought Sora being capable of doing something like that..." Kairi nodded. She wasn't really listening. She was to busy feeling sorry for herself. "You know what, I'm gonna go ask him!"

Kairi only really noticed that Lolli and her tray had left to go to the 'popular' table a few minutes after she had told the others and by then it was deemed too late to save the poor girl. As Ray and Chell decided to follow. Kairi groaned; wondering whether she should go follow, maybe if she followed she'd appear cool, hassling up the little annoying children and taking them somewhere else. Or maybe not. Kairi decided that she'd wait for them to come back, so to amuse herself in the meantime she thought she might watch Verdi and Eddy kill each other, Thea certainly seemed to think it was good fun. Kay was just sort of perched on the bench, wondering whether she should eat the food in front of her.

Kairi soon decided that watching boys beat the crap out of each other wasn't as Thea made it look like. So she decided she'd maybe talk to Olette. Olette seemed nice enough.

.O.x.O.

"Sora! Sora dear! There you are, no don't try to ignore me; it's not nice!" Sora bit his lip. Did she have to do this in front of his friends. He could hear the sniggers. Oh well, better make the best of a moment while he had it.

"Hello ... Lolz..." Riku gave Sora a look, but Sora shrugged it off, "So, er... you okay?" he asked, eying the other inhabitants of the table, maybe he could make Lolli really cool and keep them away from the other tw- too late, Ray alert. She was coming. At least it wasn't both of them.

"Hey Sora, I'm sure you won't mind us butting in here, excusez-moi, if you'd just shove your ass up a bit, thank you," the girl looked expectantly up, "So Sora, what's up?" Sora slapped his head, she was his friend, but really!

"Erm... hello to you too Ray..." Sora said, a little hesitantly. By now, everyone on the table had squeezed onto the opposite side of Ray and Lolli, so Sora was almost being suffocated by all the other popular kids who'd thought it'd be clever to sit on Sora's table today. How they were wrong...

"Sorry I'm late; there were MUFFINS! Would ya believe that? MUFFINS! Why, where I came from, we were deprived of our muffin-goodness!" Ray patted the seat next to her, and the other girl sat down. This scene reminded Sora a little too much of the description of Doomsday...

"Hello... Chell..." muttered Sora. He was feeling very uneasy. Very uneasy indeed. Ray plus Chell plus Lolli equals ... -shudder-

"You don't sound too happy to see me!" Chell crossed her arms indignantly. Ray and Lolli tutted, and giggled. Sora nursed his temples; he was not having a very good day...

"Erm... 'Course I am... Erm... Well, I've really got to go now so..."

Sora tried to get up and leave but Riku pushed him back, "No, let's see what you and your friends have to catch up on..."

"Yeah Sora, listen to your ... frie- HEY! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HURT KAI!" Lolli slammed her fists onto the table, and glared at the boy opposite her.

"Um."

"Don't worry, we won't hold a grudge..." muttered Ray darkly.

"Okay... So, why are you here anyway?" asked Sora, perhaps a little nervously; dreading the answer. He could guess. It probably had something to do with Ray.

"Oh man, it was the _BEST_!" Sora nearly fainted when Verdi appeared out of nowhere, "Oh sorry, we were wondering where the girls had got to..." Verdi then exploded into a fit of giggles, Sora was definitely scared now. But that was usually what the effect was when this lot was around. But, he wasn't able to laugh along with them this time, or else he'd be out of the popularity group in a matter of seconds. And he'd be joining Kairi. The brunet looked over at the girl who was laughing at something Olette had just said. They seemed to be getting along well. He felt sorry for Olette; she would now be classed as a loser and get picked on. So, he'd be joining Kairi and Olette.

"Erm... Verdi, why was it 'the best'?" asked Sora, still very scared.

"No, no, let me answer that!" cried Chell. Ray crossed her arms in annoyance. Verdi, Eddy, Thea and Kay sat down next to and around the other three. "Well, it all started on that bright September morn. Ray was having a good day, until Chemistry. When Mrs. Nosnek called her a shorty by accident. So she went off crying at lunch. The next time we saw her was in English after lunch and she was outside with a match. After that we heard the fire alarm..."

"MY FAVOURITE PART WAS WHEN SHE LIT THE MATHS CORRIDOR!" cried Kay, completely changing her character. "What? I hate maths..."

"Well, my favourite part was when someone phoned McDonalds instead of the fire brigade!" laughed Eddy.

"Eddy... that was you..." reminded Lolli.

Eddy's eyes narrowed, "And I never got my fries..." Verdi snorted, "Oh, you can shut up; you didn't even see it when the head started shouting at some grade elevens for setting the school on fire when it was Ray!"

Ray pouted.

"Yeah... but I saw the bit when she flamed the Sports Hall!" Verdi countered.

"Oh my God! That was the best part!" cried Lolli.

Ray pouted, "But it wasn't MY fault the Sports Hall went down ... I'm sure it just caved in on itself... I'm sure of it..." she tried to back herself up, only provoking more laughs from her friends. Sora's friends however were a little taken aback. Everyone apart from Sora was backing away. Sora felt like laughing with the others but if he did then he'd definitely be sitting with Kairi and Olette tomorrow. But even Kairi would turn him away. And he knew it.

It was her fault really. But Sora only helped ruin it.

"What? What? Do you thing we're all freaks? Well, I'm sorry to waste your time, I'll be off now."

"Ray! Ray, come back, I wanna talk to Sora! Ray..." Chell ran after Ray, followed by Lolli, and then Thea and Kay.

"Well, I guess this is my cue to leave!" Verdi saluted.

"AND MINE!" Eddy jumped up, waving.

"Shut up whine bag!" Verdi punched Eddy in the shoulder.

"You shut up!" Eddy punched Verdi back.

"No you!" they shouted simultaneously.

And with that the boys left too.

"Wow... they were weird..." was all Selphie could muster. Sora nodded, trying to suppress the happy giggles he always got when he was around those kids. He decided he'd go to the chip store later on; maybe they'd be there.

"So Sora, how did you know them?" asked Riku, sitting back down next to the said boy. Sora told them about how Kairi had been cornered by some six year olds and he went to help her, but they all started fighting with each other before he could. So he and Kairi had to split them up instead.

"So are they your friends?" asked Selphie. Sora supposed that Selphie saw herself as the brunet's girlfriend. But he didn't see it the other way. She was annoying and too much of the slutty-cheerleader type.

"I-I don't know... If they were, would you still be my friend?"

Riku sniggered, "So, isn't Ray a boy's name?" he asked. Sora blushed; he had made up the name Ray for her. He couldn't even remember her real name...

"Not for Ray..." muttered Sora, wondering where this was leading to.

"And isn't Lolli a type of candy?!" clapped Selphie. Laughing along with Riku.

Sora flinched, "Ye-es..."

"And Kay's just another way of saying 'yes'!" cried Tidus, having fun taking the mick out of other people's names. But if the shoe was on the other foot, he wouldn't be having so much fun... Sora nodded, slowly.

"And what the hell is Verdi meant to mean anyway? ...man..." asked Wakka, laughing like a retard. Although no one really took any notice of him. Neither did they question the fact that Verdi had not mentioned his name, and therefore it was quite impossible for Wakka to have known what his name was...

"I-I don't like them that much... it's just Ka- Fairy forced me to hang around with them and ... and stuff..." Sora remembered back to the days when he used to play with Eddy, and Verdi, Ray, Chell, Lolz, Kay and Thea. Happy days. He could remember being dared to kiss Kairi. He remembered being dared to eat ten hotdogs at the same time. He remembered being dared to pretend to make out the tv. He remembered the ... the thing that turned everything upside down. Even though it wasn't any of the little kids who had caused that, he still felt it was partly their fault.

"Sure Sora!" Riku rolled his eyes sarcastically. Sora growled, stood up, slammed his tray down onto the pile and marched to his form room. Selphie followed behind him.

.X.o.X.

"So, you gonna come to the mall with us at six?" the brunette asked her. Olette nervously took the phone number scrawled on the tiny piece of paper sheepishly and nodded. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. Kairi had never told her who to look out for, or who to try to avoid or anything. She had pretty much guessed that Kairi didn't have much of a reputation in the school, and she was more on an outcast than anything else. "Great, see you there, and we'll make sure you won't need people like that Airy-Fairy over there."

Olette jumped and turned round surprised to see Kairi in tears. Olette suddenly felt guilty. She wondered if it had been herself who had made Kairi cry. But she soon realised that she wasn't. She watched, maybe even glared as Riku appeared beside Kairi and when she tried to run away he tripped her up. But unlike Olette thought, Kairi giggled a bit, picking herself up. Even though it was obvious the red-head was hurt and the tears were falling faster than before. This seemed to disturb Riku as panic flittered across his eyes. So, to calm himself he made her fall down in the muddy snow again as she tried to lever herself up again. Her face held a smile, it was a happy smile. It scared Olette.

"Urg, she's doing it again, what a freak! So, see you tonight then, bya huni!" Selphie blew a mock kiss in Olette's direction as all bitches and luts did to their friends at this school. It annoyed Olette no end. But if it got her in the 'in' crowd, then she was happy. But... did she want to be with the 'in' crowd if it hurt Kairi?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

No.

But...

.O.x.O.

Kairi left her message.

Roxas hadn't answered her on his phone for ages. But she just shrugged it off as him being busy ... or maybe his phone had been confiscated... or his mum had grounded him ... or something...

She thought she might phone someone instead then. She picked up her phone again, and felt like a proper girl, having people to phone, and a whole load of numbers to use. She closed her eyes and stabbed her finger on the sheet. The name underneath her finger read 'Lolli'. Huh, what a coincidence, Lolli was also Olette's sister. How Kairi had not been Olette's friend as well as Lolz' Kairi didn't know. Maybe she'd ask the girl now.

"Hello?" asked a crackly voice on the other end of the line. Kairi smiled. That was Lolz alright.

"Hey Lolli! I was just wondering something, why didn't you ever let me know about Olette being your sister?" asked Kairi, still keeping up her cheerful mood.

"Because me and Chell and Ray realised that if we told you, then you might go off with her and not want to play with us because she was the same age as you, and we're not..." Kairi laughed as Lolli explained this in her careful and slow way, making sure she didn't make the whole thing sound bad.

"It's okay, I was just wondering... So, what's up?" Kairi could almost hear Lolli thinking, it was one of those long pauses with a thoughtful silence to it.

"Nothing since ten to four exactly when I left school ... except... Oh yeah! I'm going out with Eddy again."

"Very nice... I hope you'll be happy..." Kairi told her happily, playing with locks of auburn hair.

Kairi laid talking to Lolli for the remainder of the evening until Lolz was told to go to bed. Kairi was never 'told to go to bed'. She was thought mature enough to go to bed when thought was a good time to go to bed. Another reason could be that her parents just couldn't be bothered. But the worst and probably the most truthful was that her parents were too busy shouting at each other to bother.

She could already hear them. And hear the little patter of footsteps as Naminé trod into her room for comfort. Kairi spread out her arms and decided that the younger could sleep in her bed tonight. It would be better for the both of them.

.X.o.X.

"Olette!" Kairi waved to her friend who was walking to school with Lolli, Ray and Chell. Except, Olette seemed to be trying to gt away from the other three. Kairi pondered for a moment, one, at the fact that Olette had seen Kairi but hadn't waved, and two, the fact that Olette was trying to get away from the other three girls. "Huh... ah well..." Kairi continued on her lonely way to school, as Chell, Ray and Lolz ran to the gates in a mad dash to see who could get there first without being out of breath.

When Kairi found Olette at school, the girl was talking to the bitches and the sluts and Sora's 'girlfriend'.

"Olette?" Kairi asked timidly, soon realising that this was a big mistake and she had just basically landed herself in a pride of lionesses waiting for their prey.

"Oh, hello _Fairy_, and how are you this _fine_ day? I hear Riku is in a bit of bad mood, so I'd stay _well_ clear of him!" snickered Selphie, obviously enjoying the fact that Kairi was so confused, and wondering what the hell Olette was doing with them.

"Olette, a-aren't you gonna like... I thought..."

"Well, she's doesn't care what you think now Fairy, so get lost!" snapped Selphie, as the girls behind her leaned forward, mocking Selphie's irritable voice by screeching 'ye-ah'.

"Oh- Oh... okay..." Kairi slowly trudged back, away from Olette and her new found friends.

As she crept into the form room, she soon realised that some seats had been swapped round, which was odd. It just was. She went and sat down in the place she had made home to for the last five years, it was the desk farthest away from civilization. In the back corner, pushed up against the wall. She sighed and let her head fall onto her arms. Soon, whoever had decided to sit next to her appeared.

She couldn't be bothered to check who it was, because it was probably going to be some loony. Or it might be Roxas! She glanced up with a smile printed on her face, which immediately fell when she saw who it was.

"Hey, _Fairy_! Isn't this fun! I'm gonna make your life HELL everyday!" Riku rather subtly retorted.

Kairi groaned and leant against her hands again, facing the wall. She could hear all the kids screaming and shouting in her class, paper aeroplanes dashing here and there. Some kids making out. Others just looking on, as though nothing were happening, eyes glazed over, or talking to each other. Kairi hated it. She kicked the table, making Riku jump. She stifled a giggle, earning a punch. She winced, but still giggled slightly.

"Shut up Fairy, don't ever laugh when I hit you; it's stupid."

"I'll do whatever I want Riku..." muttered Kairi under her breath, apparently Riku heard and kicked her in the shin. She resisted the urge to kick him back and instead laughed. It was the only thing to do to help get rid of the pain; crying doesn't work, she'd figured that out long ago. "Roxas!"

Kairi called out to her boyfriend, hoping he'd talk to her this time. He had been ignoring for the past few days, and she didn't like it. He had been helpful to her when she had told him about the problems at home, but now he wasn't listening to her at all. He seemed to be hanging around with his brother an awful lot more as well. Even though, Sora had proclaimed that Roxas was a traitor and gave a bad name to brotherhood.

Kairi waved a little bit more, but still Roxas 'didn't notice' her. She sighed and went back to her mope.

"Your little boyfriend doesn't like you anymore does he?" Kairi didn't answer Riku, what was the point. She'd only get hurt. More. "Answer me when I ask you something!" he suddenly cried, giving a hard blow to her back. She winced in pain, but laughed too. Thus causing Riku to stand up and hit her head with a hard-back book. She laughed again, but he couldn't think up anymore 'original' violent ways to insult Kairi anymore. So he just sat and sulked.

.O.x.O.

Kairi walked to her locker, she doubted there'd be anything in it today. She wasn't sure, but she doubted it. Besides it was ten to four and mostly everyone had gone. Mostly everyone. Obviously discluding herself of course. As she walked to her locker she could hear a noise. She went to investigate.

She turned a corner to the sluts' hangout, and lo and behold there was something Kairi didn't expect.

The poor girl dropped her books, turned tail and fled.

.X.X.X.

_A/N: Like YAYness... Now I wonder what's happened!! I actually know – BUT YOU DON'T... well ... some of you don't... COOL ... eth ... That chapter was exactly 10 PAGES!! From page 30 to page 40! How fun! Is discluding a word? And how exactly do you spell 'lo and behold'?_

_AU REVOIR!!_


	6. noONEcares

_Disclaimer: I like ... stuff... cuz stuff ... reminds me of ... stuff... ENJOY!! Oh yeah, like you didn't already know: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, any of its characters blah blah, something about sugar... blah..._

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterseven.

.no.ONE.cares.

It couldn't. He wouldn't. It didn't. She shouldn't.

Kairi wanted to retrace her steps.

It had never happened.

Not Roxas.

Not Roxas.

Roxas.

He was the only one she had trusted. The only one she had faith in. The only one she believed in. Her salvation.

She slumped down the side of the wall. And cried.

Not Olette. Olette had seemed so nice. Too nice to do that. And plus, she was Lolli's sister, what was that going to do now? Every time Kairi would go to Lolli's house there'd be this awkward silence at dinner. And Lolli would constantly be trying to make Kairi and Olette friends again. But Kairi couldn't do that.

By kissing Roxas, Olette had crumbled Kairi's life into a thousand bits. And one by one, stepped on each piece, making sure not to leave any out. And now she'd have to go home and face the shouting matches her parents very much enjoyed having with each other.

Kairi dried her eyes and she suddenly knew what to do.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

So long it had been since she'd had her good fair share of good, wholesome chips. She realised that she had been ignoring them too much. She needed some too much. She stood up and sprinted as fast as she could to town. In her haste she had forgotten her satchel and books that she'd dropped to the floor.

.O.x.O.

Sora remembered the last time someone had told him to go and get some chips. It was like an age ago, and now yet again, he had been told to go and get some chips. He could remember long ago, the voice of a lost memory, "Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what you need." And a light punch on his shoulder.

But this time, the order hadn't been so friendly...

"Pfft. Go get some chips like that freaked-up friend of yours!"

He sighed and decided he would go and get his 'inner goodness' chips. It was probably the only thing left anyway. Now he had only himself. He didn't have any 'freaked-up' friends to get some chips with. He had no one.

He walked forward, his head bent down, hands thrust into his pockets so hard he thought he would rip them. Through the rain and the gloom, and bleary Winterness he could recognise a figure racing through the streets. Her face was covered in tear streaks. He tried to ignore her. He tried. From the goodness in his heart, he did try.

Kairi could see him, walking along. He looked so sad. So was she.

But she didn't need him. She didn't need anyone but herself. And her chips. Because chips made life better. She'd lasted the last five years without anyone or thing but chips. But at what cost?

More tears spilled down her cheeks. She stopped dead in her tracks. She wouldn't go to him. He was an evil, unsociable traitor who didn't believe in forgiveness. And chips would make it better when she got at them. She quickened her pace again. Maybe she could get in the little shop before he did, then she'd be on the kids' side before he even got in the shop. He'd be the odd one out. Because chips were cool like that. Chips got your best and only friends on your side before some old 'friend' became their friend first. Chips.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

She moved faster than before now. The chips were waiting for her. Waiting to make her life better. Suddenly her feet stopped moving. All on their own accord. Maybe she really was crazy now. Or maybe she was just tired of not being able to get any chips. She needed them now. Quick.

Who was she kidding?

Sora watched as she just slumped down, as in slow motion. She had still been running but she was slowly but surely moving down as though the whole world stopped, just to wait for a girl to fall. The pupils of his eyes fell down with her, taking a picture of every single frame of her descent. And those pictures were not very pretty. And Sora almost felt... sympathy...

Kairi's hair had decided to curl and frizz in the rain, her mascara parading down her face in an almost death like style. In fact, she looked like death itself. Sora sighed, and, pulling his hands out of his warm pockets, he picked up his pace to meet the dead girl.

-x-x-x-

"Kai-Kairi?" he asked slowly. He knelt down and lifted her chin to face him. She batted him away and began to sniff. "Kai... Come on... Please... I-I... Please..." Kairi wondered what on earth he was talking about. Maybe he wanted her to lift her head so he could punch her. That was the sort of thing he probably wanted to do. "Kairi, I want to look at you..." That was when she realised: He wasn't calling her 'Fairy'.

Kairi slowly lifted her face, her violet eyes sparkling against the rush of the rain. Sora smiled, it was the only thing he could think of doing. He knew then that he shouldn't have been so stupid all those years ago. He watched as Kairi's face brightened again.

A stupid, 10 ten year old, stupid kid. If Kairi was willing to be his friend, then he was just being selfish and taking advantage. He didn't deserve her. His eyes welled up for a minute before he brushed any liquid away and stood up, carrying on his way.

Before he could escape though, a soft hand caught firmly on his shoulder.

"Sora..." Sora took her hand gently and placed it by her side. But before he could escape her hold she clamped her hands round his head and swivelled him round, "Sora, what are you doing? What is wrong with you? Where are your 'friends'?" Sora scowled, trying with all his might to lever Kairi's hands off his head.

"They're not my friends..." he muttered, then raising his voice "They never have been... they just thought I was 'cool' and you know why."

Kairi dropped her hands, and after an awkward silence a tear slowly trickled down her face, followed by another, and another. Soon, she was crying properly again. Sora wiped one away.

"I-I'm sorry... bu-but... I-I don't know what to do..." Sora quickly wiped away one of his tears which was threatening to fall, he wasn't going to cry in front of Kairi. Although he had done, once upon a time.

"Why, what happened?" asked Kairi, a little sarcastically, "Did you forget to beat someone up, and they had to punish you?" She pouted, forgetting how childish it looked. She didn't feel like a child, she felt old. Old with experience. But one way she felt like a child: She was weak and vulnerable, perfect target for bullies.

"Stop it... I-I don't like to hurt people, you know..."

"Well, I can remember you quite enjoying yourself last time you did it to me. Do you know, it took me a five years to get over the first time. Maybe I haven't even got over it no-"

"Shut up. I-I... You KNOW what you did! How long do you think it took me to get over that?"

"Well obviously not long by the way you like to set your so-called 'friends' on me! And how the hell did you get Olette on your side too?" Kairi's eyes welled up yet again, but this time with tears of anger.

"That's just it! I didn't try to get her on 'my side'! I-I was against it... I told them not to... Bu-But they... they said that if I stood up for people like you then I was on the same level... But Kairi... Kairi... KAI!" Kairi had stormed off.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY!" she screamed as she left.

Chips, what had she been thinking for the past years. How the hell are chips meant to make anything better? They screwed everything up! They ruined everything!

EVERYTHING WAS RUINED!

She guessed she just have to go home and listen to the shouts anyway.

At least Naminé would appreciate it.

-x-x-x-

Sora sat down on the bench near and as the rain fell down his nose, so did the salty liquid coming from his eyes.

Somewhere from behind a shop window (a chip shop to be precise) some kids stared out at the scene before them.

"Dammit..."

"This is all our fault..."

"Shut up..."

"What have I missed?" The group of children glared at the girl who had just arrived, laden with chips, chips and more chips. She smiled brightly, but her smile slowly deteriorated into a frown and shaking of the head. "What have I missed?" she asked, a little more gravely than before.

"They've fallen out again... BECAUSE OF YOU DUMBASS!!" Lolz hit Rey on the head.

Rey winced, rubbing her head, "How is it my fault..."

Before she answered, Lolli went through several faces, creating the (as Rey liked to call it) 'Haha! My face looks FUN-NEE!' phase. Rey tried to stifle a giggle while Lolz pulled these numerous faces. "It is your fault..." Lolli spat, "Because you were the one who burned down our school in the first place..."

Rey whimpered and shuffled into her 'Corner of Doom' and stayed there for the rest of their shift.

.X.x.X.

_A/N: Okay, on a serious note before I go all WH00T, I have many mistakes in this fic, and one of them is most definitely AGE. I have not thought this through properly. So, let me just tell right here, right now. We are going to say that Sora and Kairi became enemies at the age of 10. Okay? If I have previously stated otherwise then ignore it. Or pretend that I meant ten. They were all just typos... just typos... -shufty eyes-_

_And back to the main feature:_

_Woo! SHORT CHAPTER OR WHAT!! Can't be bothered to check how many pages that was... Aw... Sora and Kairi got annoyed with each other again... and IT'S ALL REY'S FAULT! But... wait... Rey... if you're clever then you'll know who Rey is based on..._

_Damn..._

_STOOPID CAMEO!_

_-screws piece of paper up and misses bin by exactly 9.67 miles- _

_Damn..._


	7. fromFAIRYtoPRINCESS

_Disclaimor: HEHEHEHE LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS ;-;... BUT I DON'T PARTICULARLY WANT TO ... I want to tell them what happens ... and my word SHALL be final ... but wait..._

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chaptereight.

.from.FAIRY.to.PRINCESS.

Kairi watched as a little hand waved to her from the backseat of the only car in the house. A little sad hand, just waving. She could see the hair worthy of a hedgehog sway about in front of the blonde. Kairi waved meekly back as her brother and sister left her. She didn't know when she was going to see them again. All she knew was that they were leaving along with their mother, some money and most of the stuff in the house.

As Kairi wandered into the kitchen, she realised how much they had actually took. The removal van had come earlier and although a little confused what to take when Ariel started wanting stuff that Cloud owned and a little fight broke out, they had taken all the stuff that was humanely possible to fit in the car.

Kairi sighed.

It was going to be a long life.

A _really_ long life.

She turned into the living room to see her ex-soldier father sitting on the couch watching TV. He could feel the couch bow down as her weight was lifted onto it. He sighed and after a while put an arm round her. It wasn't very 'Cloud-ish' but he felt he had to do something instead of letting her sit there and sigh.

Kairi wondered why her father had put an arm round her; she knew he wasn't a very... sociable person at times. So why was he suddenly being Oh-so-fatherly?

Nevertheless she took this opportunity and shifted closer to him. She decided that she was testing him, seeing if he'd be even more fatherly. She highly doubted this, but she didn't care if he pushed her back a little, like he did, because she had never had any fatherly love before. Ever. And she had a little now.

Just a little.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Kairi sighed as Cloud stood up, not seeming reluctant in the slightest, to go and answer it.

Kairi tried to listen to what was being said, but she couldn't hear anything of much importance. When Cloud came back in the room he seemed very close to a smile. Not quite there but he was definitely close.

Kairi suddenly saw the willowy figure of another being behind Cloud. She had long brown hair, tied back into some sort of odd plait. The plait went down to her waist and Kairi wondered how the hell someone could grow their hair that long AND keep it in such nice condition. It was probably just one of those mysteries of life...

"Kairi. This is Aerith. Aerith will be tutoring you."

Kairi blinked.

"Wh-What? Why?" asked Kairi, stammering slightly; she had reasonable grades. Was her own father trying to bully her at home as well?

"Because you are not getting the grades expected of you at this level." Cloud's answer came as bluntly as the last. Kairi pouted and slid down the sofa crossing her arms. She wasn't happy about this, no sir-ree!

"Don't worry Kairi, I won't be working with you today, I just thought I might get to know you... I mean if that's okay with you," Aerith's voice was slow and steady, but still maintained an upbeat rhythm. Kairi liked it, it reminded her of when she was little and she had that really nice teacher, who made sure Kairi and Sora always sat together because she knew they were best friends. And, the more Kairi thought about it...

"Hey! Did you teach class 1A at Destiny Preschool?"

"Still do. Why?" asked Aerith calmly. Kairi grinned from ear to ear. Aerith _was_ her teacher who liked to put her next to Sora in preschool. What were the odds of that?

Well, if you asked Axel, then you'd realise that the odds were pretty high. Axel was a nosy one in his youth. And still is. But not in the same way.

"You were my teacher," Kairi said, as though she were still a little girl. She was slightly swaying on her knees, sitting atop the sofa cushions.

"Oh yes. I remember you! How long it's been! How's Sora?" Kairi's world suddenly came crashing in on her. She tried to force herself not to get upset. How was Aerith to know? It wasn't as though she had tracked Kairi and Sora just to upset Kairi. No, she'd just... she'd just... she'd just been nice, asking about Kairi's 'friends', right?

"Erm... yeah..." Kairi mumbled.

Aerith placed a hand to her chin, and then after a while of thinking she withdrew it, "Oh sorry, don't worry, when I asked Sora the same thing he was a bit upset too."

Kairi looked up, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I tutor Sora too because, to be honest, where do you think _his_ good marks came from?" Kairi giggled at this.

"Alright honey, well, I think I already know you, so I'll be on my way. Bye Cloud!" Aerith waved a hand and scooted on out of the house. Kairi slunk down the sofa and smiled. Cloud sat down next to her.

"What's wrong with you and Sora?" he asked. He didn't need to elaborate. There wasn't any point. Cloud was blunt and always kept to the point.

"Oh... w-we had an argument... but it doesn't matter. It's silly really... Erm... got to go, bye dad," Kairi grabbed her handbag (except it wasn't much of a handbag seeing that it went over her shoulder), flung it over her shoulder and ran out to into the street. As she skipped down the white, white road, sprinkled with snow, she smiled.

But the feeling didn't last as she entered town centre.

"It's FAIRY! Look! Where's Sora, Fairy? Shouldn't he be with you?!" Kairi blinked. Rike and the group which once belonged to Sora was now advancing on her. And admist the group was Roxas. Kairi shook her head.

Roxas?

Roxas.

Of course Roxas would be there.

Roxas and his son-of-a-bitch kissing girlfriend, Olette. Except of course she wasn't there. She was with Selphie and Yuna, and Paine. Damn them. Damn them all.

Kairi shut her eyes tight and squeezed her fists into balls before being cornered into some sort of minuscule food court. She wondered what they were going to do. Maybe knock her out. Or worse.

.O.x.O.

When Kairi opened her eyes again, they were all gone. She was in her room, and she decided that it had just been a dream. Just a dream. But when she felt the pain around her eye, she realised that it hadn't been 'just a dream'.

And the pain in her stomach.

Jeez, did Riku _know_ when to stop?!

She tried to put a finger to her eye, but a hand stopped her.

"No."

Kairi smiled and, with bleary eyes, reached forward using her outstretched arms.

"Axel?" She could see the vague outline of a red hedgehog thing. She smiled weakly and felt arms pull her up.

"Hey Kai..." he whispered. Kairi rubbed her eyes, wincing at the touch of her eye. "Seriously Kairi, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself even more... It's not nice, believe me. Many people have told me... and their mothers. Jeez, you really should stop making enemies; it just means I get in trouble for hitting the sods!" Kairi laughed and hugged her brother.

"How come you're here? Shouldn't you be with Mom in Hollow Bastion?" Axel frowned, and Kairi let go of him. "What happened?"

"Well, Riku beat you to a pulp... you know that right? And then Sora here found you..."

"Sora?" asked Kairi, wildly searching around for the brunet, finding him messing about in the corner with her photos, "SORA! Get your hands off them!" Sora quickly replaced the pictures and backed away from them.

"_Anyways_, as I was saying, Sora found you, panicked, phoned me (by going here and asking for it) and I drove here as fast as I could, took you home, you stayed unconscious for a couple of hours, whilst this happening I went, found Riku, beat the crap out of him, came back here, waited a couple more hours, and well, here we are."

Kairi blinked, as did Sora.

"What?"

Kairi laughed and punched Axel in the shoulder. Axel, this having been done to him, overreacted as usual and pretended to be fatally wounded, falling over a couple of things... which included Sora and thus causing both to _actually_ get hurt.

Kairi couldn't stop laughing.

"There is nothing funny about me being squished by your brother Kairi Strife!" cried Sora under the rubble that was Axel.

Kairi laughed even harder and shifted herself off of the bed.

She hauled Axel off Sora and held out a hand. Sora took it gratefully, and smiling Kairi picked him up. Sora grinned.

"Oh, so I don't get a help up?!" Axel cried indignantly, Kairi simply blew a raspberry at her brother. "I try and I try..." the older muttered, realising that his sister was more interested in Sora at that moment in time.

"Sora..." Kairi started. Sora looked down, rubbing one toe to the other. "Sora, why did you call my brother?"

Sora looked up, almost ashamed, although Kairi didn't see what he had to be ashamed of, "Because you needed help...?" Sora replied. Now Kairi saw, he wasn't ashamed, he was embarrassed, and that was obvious from the look on his face.

"Aw Sora! I knew you ca-" Kairi remember the last time she had been this playful with Sora, and remembering this brought back unwanted memories, "I-I mean... I..." Kairi stuttered, she didn't know what to say; she was literally lost for words. She couldn't say anything because she was the one who had started all this. And if she said something then Sora might not return the same feeling, such as if Kairi said 'Aw Sora! I knew you cared!' then Sora could reply with 'Unlike you.' and that would crush Kairi into a little cube of trash.

"Ye-Yeah... I guess I do..." Sora rubbed the back of his head. Kairi put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Y-You care?" Sora nodded sheepishly, "And you're not just saying this... because you... because..." Kairi couldn't think of any other reason he might say something like that. "You really mean that?"

Sora grinned and nodded again, this time more fervently. Kairi giggled and pressed Sora against her. He smiled and hugged her back. Kairi smiled, she was friends with Sora... hopefully. But she knew there was still something missing. Still a wall there.

Something.

_Princess. Princess wanted more friends. Princess found People. People turned Princess into Witch. Witch. Witch turned Prince into Frog. Witch lost Frog. To hide her shame Witch disguised herself as Fairy. Fairy found Frog. Fairy turned into Princess. Princess was happy. Princess wanted Prince back. Princess would do anything to get Prince back._

Kairi couldn't think what it was. Until Axel forced it upon her.

Axel pushed the two heads together so as their lips collided in an almighty kiss of doom.

Kairi had but two seconds to realise what just happened and Sora used these two seconds for his own.

Sora was being pure evil, with a capital E, L and a lot of other letters in between. It was almost as if his scheming little mind had waited for a red-headed older brother with issues to shove them together, so he could form a master plan to turn Kairi's legs to butter.

The girl's eyes were large and she was standing rigid not unlike a marble pillar, hands clenched into fists at her sides. She was completely shell-shocked, as her childhood friend, once enemy, now 'something else' slipped his tongue through her parted lips.

It wasn't a sweet little innocent kiss little five-year-old kids exchanged on the playground. Kairi herself had memories tarnished with age in the back of her mind of long ago birthday parties where Sora would peck her on the cheek, covered with coloured green jelly from the buffet, proclaiming with shining eyes how fun it was and happy sixth birthday, Kairi.

But this was nothing like that.

Sora had grown up, and Kairi mentally thwacked herself in the head. She had begun to coo over the boy who now towered over her with his tongue in her mouth like an old auntie, marveling at how much he had grown.

She wasn't exactly sure what to do, so she kissed him back.

It was the only logical response.

But this 'logical response' seemed to encourage Sora, his tongue tangling with hers, making her collapse against his chest from her damned weak legs. It was like a trust exercise where you fell backwards into nothing and waited for your partner to catch you. She'd always been afraid of them before, because nobody wanted to be her partner because she was so unpopular, and she told her teacher she didn't want to fall because they'd be too busy examining their nails to help her.

She felt perfectly safe with Sora though, as his arms closed around her tightly and held her to his chest, and she inhaled and exhaled and thought that Sora felt all nice and squishy and marshmallow-like.

He buried his head in her red hair, to disguise the shifty sort of smile playing about his face. He had marked Kairi as his property, just as he had marked his play station with glowing green letters that read: "Belonging 2 Sorrraa". Only he didn't write his name on Kairi's forehead, obviously.

"Your hair smells of strawberries..." mumbled Sora.

Axel groaned and make mock-sick noises.

"You're going too far now... Pretty-boy... I remember when I hit you because you hit Kairi... YOU DIDN'T LOOK SO PRETTY THEN! HAHAHAH- Oh, wait, that was Riku.."

There was a long pause.

"Y-eah."

Kairi pouted; Axel had ruined her moment.

Sora suppressed a snigger.

Kairi pouted at Sora too.

Kairi pouted.

.X.o.X.

"_So... So I just do this ... a-and I can sit with you on your table?" The girl in front of her nodded, smirking slightly. Kairi blinked, and not quite sure what she was doing, nodded. She wasn't going to do that. That would be evil. Just evil._

_Later that day Kairi and Sora were walking together back to the boy's house. Kairi felt mope-like. She didn't know whether popularity was worth what she was about to do. If she ahd the guts to do it._

_Sora looked at her questioningly; why was she seem so upset today? It was almost the end of the year. Sure, the two probably weren't going to have a great time tomorrow at school: Riku had promised that jelly was on the menu tomorrow. _

_Sora winced._

_He was never going to let Riku pretend to be his friend in the hope of a cheese and ham sandwich. He now learnt that sandwiches were your enemy. Enemy..._

"_Kai, what's wrong?" asked Sora, finding her silence too much to bear. Kairi looked up._

"_Wh-What? Oh yeah, sorry... um..." Kairi licked her lips, reached inside her pocket. Sora waited hesitantly, wondering what on earth she was doing. When Kairi pulled out the object she had been keeping in her pocket for all of that day he laughed. _

_Kairi threw the ball._

"_Go fetch!" she cried. She remembered when they were little and they used to play this game all the time. And Sora used to go 'fetch' the ball like a 'good little doggy'. _

_Sora got on all fours to collect the ball. He grabbed it in his hand, not having the indecency to use his mouth. _

_Kairi clutched her sides, not being able to control the laughter she felt escaping through her lips. She loved playing with Sora; he was her best and only friend and vice versa. _

_She hauled him up off the ground where he was worrying the ball and grabbed his hand. Tucking the ball in her pocket, she continued on her way, hand in hand with Sora heading for his house to play._

_As soon as they reached the house, Kairi felt the dawning feeling of dread again. She didn't want to do this, but she so desperately wanted to get on the cool table. And it was so important now that they were about to move up to 'big school'._

_They stepped inside the house, Sora holding open the door for Kairi pretending to be some sort of butler or servant of sorts, bowing as the Kairi was revealed the other side. Kairi giggled nervously and curtseyed as she stepped through._

_Sora raced up the stairs, he turned round to see Kairi faltering slightly as she placed her foot on the first step._

"_Come on Kai! What's up with you today?!" he asked before turning round again to rush to his room in a mad dash to see his beloved pet._

_Kairi appeared soon afterwards whilst Sora was busy stroking his little rabbit. She smiled, remembering when she got it for him._

_It was so long ago now._

_She could remember Sora trying desperately to come up with a name. Until Kairi, being the greedy child she had been thought it up herself._

_Chips._

_Sora held Chips out to her, she stroked the pet tentatively; she wasn't sure what she was doing was right. No, it wasn't right. She did know that. But what was she going to do?_

"_Wait, I'll go get some lemonade, kay?" Kairi nodded, as Sora rushed off._

_She sat down, with Chips sat on her lap. She absentmindedly stroked the fluffy white thing as she sat and thought. _

_Sora had been really worried lately; Chips had been ill. Maybe if she did what was asked of her then she could pass it off as it dying from being sick. Maybe..._

_But she'd still have a guilty conscious, she'd still feel pain. And Sora would feel the pain more than anyone else. Sora loved his rabbit. Mainly because Kairi had given it to him. _

_Suddenly she heard a shout from the room next to Sora's. Cinderella, Sora's mother was calling Kairi. Kairi carefully placed Chips down on the floor, making sure it was no where near any objects which could be prone to falling on top of the small creature. But then she did a double-take and placed Chips under the shadow of the bookcase._

_She bit her lip nervously._

_And ran out the room._

_Cinderella was talking to her about some sort of party Ariel was having. Kairi hadn't even any idea that she was having one. _

_Half way through some boring anecdote about some ... Prince Charming from... some old school ball they heard a loud wimper come from the room next door. Kairi bit her lip so hard it bled._

_She rushed to Sora's room. _

_There, he could be seen, trying to lift the bookcase up. Kairi felt her eyes prickle. _

_Sora turned round to look at her, when he saw her, he threw her a look she'd never forget. It was full of pain, sadness, anger, hatred and the worst: betrayal._

_Tears slipped down her cheeks as she raced out the room, past Roxas who looked a bit embarrassed and guilty, and through the front door._

_But that wasn't the end._

_The next day at school Kairi was late because Sora hadn't waken her up in the morning with his usual cry of "KAIRI! YOU SHALL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL! AND I WILL DIE!" and she hadn't had anyone to protect from the older kids who liked to bully the younger kids._

_When she did come, bruises scattered her face and arms. _

_Sora didn't care though, as she sat down next to him, he simply folded his arms and looked away. She could see his eyes were red from crying and he was obviously aching all over._

_She sighed deeply and laid her head on her arms. _

_Lunch was when it happened. She tried to sit next to Sora because she didn't care if she was allowed to sit on the 'cool' table now. She'd done her job. She'd killed Chips. But she didn't care. She just wanted Sora. But apparently he didn't want her._

_She made a muffled sob sort of sound and crept over to the 'cool' table where Selphie was laughing with her 'cool' friends and they were all having loadsa fun. She made a squeaky sort of noise to attract the attention of the girls. Selphie looked up._

"_Oh... Strife... yeah, sit down then. You did what I asked... right?" Kairi meekly sat down and watched Sora. She saw Riku advance on him. Closely followed by Tidus. And Wakka. And the other popular boys. She watched as they talked to him. She watched as Sora stood up slowly. She watched as Sora walked over to her. She watched as Sora stood behind her. She closed her eyes when she felt his fist._

_Uproar._

"_Oh! My GOD!" cried Selphie, "You actually DID IT! You heartless bitch! I thought you were just saying! Oh my God!"_

"_Go Sora!" called out Riku. _

"_Soooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaa!" _

_Sora felt his hand burn. He could feel a warm buzz inside of him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. He looked down at the weak figure who was slumped down, and he felt no sympathy. None at all. _

_He knew what he felt._

_He punched her again. It felt good. The warm buzz turned into a ringing in his ears. He knew they were turning red like they always did when he was trying something new, but he didn't stop hitting his former best friend. He felt evil. _

_But he liked it._

.X.x.X.

_A/N: No one reads it 'cept for Molly (who prob'ly doesn't read it anymore O.o), Skitts, Anna and someone else... I ... think... o-o BUT I'LL UPDATE IT FOR YOU GUYS!! -_


	8. sadnessALWAYScomesAFTERlove

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapternine.

.sadness.

**_3rd December_**

_So, here I am again. It's been a while. I suppose you could take that as a good thing... right? A little diary. About a girl I barely know. I don't need to look after those new kids; they proved quite obvious to be able to handle themselves. But if I'm writing this, it's not going to be good news. Because every day last week she was hit. And I missed it by an inch. Larxene is pissing me off too; she keeps saying I'm a pervy stalker, I just salute and tell her it's for the good of 'The pervert's ultimate bingo'. It's not even funny, but she laughed. And Axel is being really like "..." all the time. But I can't blame him; his parents did just split up._

_I was sad when he told me because he said that he was going with his mother, but then Kairi got hurt and Sora got scared and phoned Axel and he came back. It's sweet really, he won't leave his sister's side. Sora won't leave her side either, and I can only imagine what happened between them. I can remember when they were younger and they were inseparable. I still can't believe what Selphie did to Kairi. The damned girl **knew** what she was doing. _

_But back to present. _

_Riku is being a little bitch and is beating the crap out of her every day. And Sora. Well, Sora's not beating the crap out of Kairi, but Riku's beating the crap out of Sora. It kills me to watch them stand up for each other, and I have to admit it: I can't stop Riku because I'm scared of him._

_That's right. Me, scared of Riku, the little sod who likes to punch._

_Larxene told me that Riku was nothing to be scared of, compared to what I'll have to 'face when I'm older'. She treats me like a five year old, she really does. But she loves me really. I know she does._

_I so scared for Kairi. I've got to do something._

.O.x.O.

"_It's because you're living with Cloud isn't it? It is! I know it is! If you were with me then I know you'd like it; I mean you did for all those years you were with me and Cloud was off in the war right?"_

"Mum... it's not being with dad, honest! Anyway, Axel's here too now. It's nothing to do with that, kay? I don't want to go live with yo- I mean, it's not that I don't like you... it's just I'd prefer to stay here..."

"_Darling, I only want what's best for you. And right now, I think it would be best if you came home to me and Naminé, since your father has stolen Axel back. Oh it would be lovely to have my two girls with me. Come on love. Please come home to me!"_

"No mum, honestly, I'm fine here... I-I just need to ... do some stuff... you know... like make me... I don't know, I'm fine mum, really, gotta go now BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

And with that Kairi dropped the phone back on its hook.

She turned round to smile sheepishly at Sora who was lingering behind her. He smiled back, and spread his arms out for her.

He was annoyed with Riku. Kairi was probably going to have to move because of the silver-haired boy, but Sora wanted Kairi to stay because if she left then Sora would be the only outcast.

Like Kairi was once upon a time.

But it would be different this time.

Because no one would be there to save him.

He clung to Kairi even tighter, not wanting her to go, but hearing her sharp inward breath he released her from his death-grip. He looked at her in the eye, she was crying. He sat down on the chair beside the phone and patted his knee, willing her to sit with him.

He felt the slight depression on his leg as Kairi quietly perched on him. He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, so she was actually sitting on him, and not just perching. He preferred it this way, and knew that she did too.

"Kairi... what's the matter?" asked Sora slowly. He was pretty sure he knew, but he wasn't positive. If he was right then he'd kill something. He would.

"I-It's Riku..." Kairi slurred, Sora's knuckles whitened as they clenched the corners of the chair. Kairi slipped back onto Sora and laid her hand over his, "It's not your fault..." she muttered, but Sora knew it was. And Kairi did too, he knew she did, so why was she being so nice about it? What she had done was a stupid thing to get upset about. A stupid, stupid thing. A dare that went wrong.

But Sora had done worse.

Kairi saw the tight look on Sora's face. She didn't want him to get upset over something that was long gone. She touched his face so the glazed over look on his face disappeared, and he was brought back to Kairi's. He smiled and Kairi returned the smile. "Sora. It's not your fault. Believe me when say that okay? It's not your fault..."

"It's okay Kai... you don't have to cover it up for m-"

"Sora! It's not your fault. Not. Not. Not!" She slapped him lightly across the face, then planted her lips on his. Withdrawing, she pouted and slapped him again, "Not. Your. Fault."

Sora laughed, "Okay, not my fault."

.X.o.X.

"So you mean, she doesn't want to go back to live with your mum?" Axel sighed, for the bazillionth time...

"No! Would you? She wrecked up Kairi's life! She turned Kai into an outcast who has enemies galore! She gets picked on, she gets hit, she gets punched, she has many a bruise to claim for her own, now, tell me Demyx, would _you_ like to go back to the monster who enforced all these terrible personality defects to you?" Demyx blinked and very quietly mumbled a muffled sound which sounded a lot like 'no'. "Thank you!" Axel cried in irritation.

"Oh, come on Axel, we know you've had a 'tough life' and Demyx doesn't help. But cut him some slack will you! Demyx hasn't had it easy either!" Larxene stood up for her little – annoying, maybe – friend as the younger's eyes began to water. "Demyx, come on, perk up a bit. Ever since you started talking about Kairi you've been like some sort of waterworks... factory ... thing... SHUT UP AXEL!" Larxene stormed over to the laughing red-head and slapped him a couple of times before the kid finally did 'shut up Axel'. But not for long...

"Jeez Larx_y_, ever since Demyx started this whole Kairi thing, you've been softer than usual... less sarcastic too... I mean, before, if I had done that then you'd have thunder and lightening chasing me all the way home..." Axel told the blonde. She paused a moment before slapping the boy again.

"How the hell could I get 'thunder and lightening' to chase you for me??? Huh, Axel? Stupid boy! You deserve a slap but I can't give you one right now because it's more suitable that I comfort Demyx..." Larxene narrowed her eyes before turning round to face Demyx.

Axel pulled a face behind her, before freaking out. "IT'S RAINING!" he cried, dancing round in little circles before 'melting' onto the floor, "RAIIIIIIN... I'M MEEEEEEELTTTTTTTTTINNNNNNNNG!"

"Dear God Axel! Get up! You are not melting, we're going to back to Demyx's house, c'mon!" Axel sniffed a bit before getting up, seeing how happy Demyx seemed to be now. It was either the rain or Larxene that had made him happy, and Axel was going for the former.

As soon as they reached Demyx's house the door was opened by a tall lady who they all knew as the mother of Demyx. She smiled as the teens moved swiftly inside the house save for Demyx who danced on the doorstep a little before getting in.

Axel was just about to move himself upstairs when the tall woman stopped him, "Oh yes, and Axel, your father phoned. Kairi's gone to your mother's to live. Sorry if this is a bit... rushed?... Unsuitable? ... Erm... we'll say crappy and leave it at that, but Cloud told me to tell you."

Axel blinked.

Axel rubbed his eyes, and then blinked again.

Axel ran out the door, hoping that he'd find his house through the dark and rain.

.O.x.O.

"SO WHAT THE HELL WAS THE POINT OF GETTING ME A TUTOR IF YOU _KNEW _WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?!?!"

Cloud stared down at his first daughter, she was screaming and screaming at him. He could remember when she first saw him and did the same. But not with Axel though, Axel had always been the 'kind' and the 'good' brother, however much trouble that got him into later. But Cloud could always tell there was something wrong with him deep inside. Some pain burning Axel up and eventually it would destroy the boy.

"Kairi. Get in the car."

"I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE! I'M NOT GOING INTO ANY RANDOM CAR SENDING ME TO HELL! I'M NOT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERSTANDING! AND FATHERLY! BUT YOU'RE NOT! AND YOU NEVER HAVE BEEN!"

Cloud lifted his hand calmly and walked off; he wasn't going to take his daughter to some godforsaken house to live with her crazy mother and thusly so now crazy sister.

Kairi just stood there, still feeling the need to scream at her 'father'. However fatherly he was though was beyond her.

After a while though, the need passed and the energy she had built up inside her converted into hot, wet tears which slipped down her face. She scrunched her hands into balls and punched her eyes until they stopped watering. She could feel the back of her throat burning up and her eyes stinging like hell.

A few days ago she would've jumped at the prospect of leaving and starting a new life, preferably one where a bunny and a certain fast food was not anywhere near her. But, starting a new life she used to wish.

But now...

"I WANT SORA!" she screeched, stamping her feet and banging her fists against the banister. Suddenly she heard a click at the door, she stopped screaming and killing the stairs for a minute to see who was at the door.

Axel flung himself into the hall, he was dripping with rain and was shivering. Kairi practically threw herself on him.

"I don't want to go Axel, they can't make me go... they can't..."

Axel sighed, and tried to regain his bearings. Running through the rain wasn't a very nice thing to do for anyone (_A/N: EXCEPT FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! But not in white... -blushes-_) and especially not Axel. To add to this, his little sister had clung herself to him like a limpet now.

"Kai... Came... Back... For... You... Kay?..." Axel tried to close the door behind him but he lost his footing and fell down the front steps; Kairi had let go that very second... karma... Axel despised it...

"Axel!" Kairi cried, reaching down to grab him, but before she could she heard a 'BEEP' from outside and her hand fell to her side. "NO!" she cried, whimpered and screamed. (_A/N: It is possible... believe me..._)

Cloud suddenly appeared with a suitcase, obviously full of Kairi's things, and with his head down he headed over to the 'beep' car. He literally threw Kairi's suitcase into the boot of the car and walked back towards the house. His head kept down.

Kairi despaired, "B-But! You can't do that! That's my stuff! THOSE ARE MY THINGS! J-Just... JUST STOP IT!" And with that she ran into the car, purposely, and slammed the door shut behind her.

She was too confused: she couldn't stay there. But she knew she'd regret it.

.X.o.X.

Kairi stared out the window.

She sniffed.

But her tears had all run dry.

She looked forward to the driver who was busily humming along to some song Kairi'd heard from probably a century ago. What a lame driver.

Apparently he was an associate of Cloud's, so Kairi had nothing to worry about. The guy was old, but didn't have grey hair, it was blond. And he had some sort of toothpick waving around in his mouth. He had probably smoked before or something... the toothpick was one of those things you used like gum or something to stop you from wanting to smoke again.

The tune he was trying to hum moved up to near its climax.

His humming was really getting on Kairi's nerves now...

She sniffed again.

The 'click, click, click' of the indicators rang through her clogged-up mind as she tried to get her bearings straight.

She was in a car.

She was going to live with her mother.

She was going to live with Naminé.

She was leaving Axel.

But more importantly, she was leaving Sora.

That was when she found the tears. She found all the tears, more than before, more than anyone could ever need. More than before. More than after.

She was upset, and angry and confused.

No one understood, no one cared, no one helped.

And worst of all, she left Sora.

Sora.

Sora...

"Sora..." she mumbled under her breath.

"Eh?" came the response from the blond sitting in the front. Kairi shook her head; nothing for '_Cid_' to be worrying about...

Kairi wiped her eyes but this didn't stop the water from leaking out of her indigo-blue orbs. That didn't stop the flow of depressing music ring through her ears. That didn't stop the fact that she was now alone. And alone she'd stay.

She buried her head in her hands, not wanting Cid to shout at her for ruining the upholstery with her tears.

But she couldn't help crying.

But, tears were for people who felt sorry for themselves.

Did she?

Hell no.

She _blamed_ herself.

Her tears were fake. Crocodile tears. Crappy crocodile tears. Just like her. Fake. Sora didn't really love her. It was a ruse. A stupid little made-up game so he doesn't have to be alone. But now he is.

Kairi laughed.

Cid looked disturbed.

.x.X.x.

_A.N: o.o_

_-sadness- Oh dear. Sora is not gonna be a happy guy..._

_And neither is Axel I fear._

_Hehehehehe..._

_I'm the one controlling all this drama..._

_BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!_

_/insert crazy face here/_

_Ha!! I didn't do a disclaimor... oops..._

_Also.. the title at the top did NOT work... so it just says 'sadness' and I can't do ANYTHING about that. Just pretend it says 'sadness. Pretend..._


	9. andHATEhateCOMEStoo

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterten.

.and.HATE.

"Kairi honey, what's the matter?" Kairi stared at her bowl of cereal. She had started a new life in Hollow Bastion. She had friends. The sort of friends who stuck by you whatever and didn't try to murder you if you killed their bunny, but she didn't feel right. She didn't feel happy.

"Kaiiiiiii-wiiiiiiiii! Answer MUMMY!" cried Naminé in annoyance. Naminé was scoffing down her breakfast as though there was no tomorrow, it was kind of sickly actually and was putting Kairi off eating her breakfast. Not that she wanted to eat it anyway.

"Oh... sorry... it's nothing... I guess..." Kairi shoved the spoon in her mouth, quickly wishing she hadn't; the cereal had turned into some milky mush and wasn't a very nice surprise. She dropped her spoon in her bowl and grabbed her bag. "I think I'll go to school now..."

"Okay, bye Kai!" twinkled Kairi's mother.

Kairi hoisted up her school bag and rushed out of the kitchen and left by climbing out of the back window; she didn't like the door, she had bad memories of the door...

"_Kairi, oh my GOD! Kairi what the hell happened to your head?"_

Kairi stopped outside the park and crunched down into a ball. Nothing made sense and nothing ever had done. She could feel warm tears trickle down her cheeks and she tried licking them off; her hands were preoccupied with trying to stop them from being numb. Or maybe she was trying to make them numb. She didn't know. She didn't know anymore.

"Hey Kai!" called a familiar voice from behind. Kairi swivelled round and saw Hayner and Pence. She smiled. She loved 'her boys' as she had recently dubbed them. They were nice, and not 'rough' or 'rebellious' like the other 'friends' she had.

"Hey Hayner..." she sniffed, wiping her face and attempting to stop her eyes from being red. Pence smiled, and took a picture. Kairi giggled, "Stop it!" she smiled, playfully batting him with her hand. Pence smiled.

"You didn't say hello to me though!" Pence pouted, earning a whack from Hayner.

"It's only because she loves me more than you!" the blond cried. Kairi smiled weakly, but quickly decided to get away from them. If she wanted to keep her reputation in school then she'd better not stick with those two. What was it with her and attracting losers? Not that she didn't like Hayner and Pence, but they themselves even admitted it being a fact.

"Gotta go guys, okay? Byeeeee!" Kairi gave them each a quick hug and scampered off.

"We've got to stop her, Hayner..." Pence whispered, watching Kairi skip over to 'the gang's' leader. Hayner patted Pence's back.

"By doing what?" he muttered, walking away. Pence chased him all the way to school.

.X.o.X.

"Hey Xig!"

"Yo Kairi."

Kairi scratched the back of her head, unable to think of anything to say, she brushed her bangs out of the way of her eyes and noticed that Xigbar wasn't smoking.

"How come you're not smoking?" she asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure on how good 'friends' they were, all she knew was that she was in his gang and that was that. If she were anything more than that then she'd prefer to die than anything else. Especially not with Xigbar.

"My mum caught me yesterday and grounded me... I got out of it, but she took 'em off me..."

"Oh." Kairi blinked, she wouldn't be able to 'let go of her troubles' with her good friend tobacco.

She made her way to school, slowly but surely. And as she reached the gates she suddenly felt drawn to skulk back to the park. Suddenly she realised she had a reason to get back: she'd left her bag.

"I'm just gonna go back and... and get my bag..." Xigbar shrugged and plodded on, making his unfortunate way into the building he preferred to call 'shit-house'. Ingenious. Indeed.

.O.x.O.

Kairi grabbed her bag and rushed back home.

She wasn't going to stick here any longer; she was sick and tired of being treated like some sort of lost puppy someone had found off the street. She wasn't a 'lost puppy', she didn't need sympathy, she didn't need anyone. No one needed her, she was worthless. She was nothing compared to even Xigbar, and who liked Xigbar, they just tried to get on the good side of him.

No one liked Kairi, they just pretended to. People used her, they took her heart and ripped it out, leaving her shell, cold and heartless, with nothing worth living for.

People liked to use Kairi because she was an easy target, they could talk to her for say five minutes and she'd automatically like them. But they didn't like her. And she realised that now, but she knew she should have realised that at the time.

Now she realised.

Except, no one would be able to hurt her anymore. No one. Except for one person. Because that one person was the one in possession of her. Since the day she met him, she was his to mould. And he sculpted and etched and scribbled over her form, creating her into what she was now.

And then, one day, he took her heart.

She grabbed whatever she could, not minding the funny looks Naminé gave her.

"Where are you going Kaiwi?" Kairi pushed back a strand of hair, and tried to find that bag she could use for one to keep her stuff in. She had no idea where she was going to run off to, or what she would do when she'd get there.

"I'm going..." Kairi replied, rushing, "Ha!" she cried softly, finding the bag she was looking for and stuffing all her stuff in it.

"Mummy's gone to the shop for a second..." Naminé told her, probably trying to brighten up the situation, or possibly she was just confused and was telling Kairi what she knew, like little kids do.

Kairi nodded, waved good bye and left.

.X.o.X.

"A-And then... and then she left be-because... I don't know Demyx! She just left, and I ju-just... I just sat there and watched her go, I didn't do anything to help, I didn't stop her ... I-I failed at being her brother... I-I hate life!" Axel whimpered. His life felt meaningless; Kairi had left him.

"B-But Axel... But Axel... But..."

"Pfft, Axel you're making a big deal out of nothing. So you're sister left. Oh boo hoo. Waa waa, my sister left, and she's probably dead, oh boo hoo... No, no Demyx... Demyx I'm sorry, sorry... Demyx I didn't mean it like that..." Demyx didn't want to start crying again, he had been for the past few months. And even though Axel and Larxene had no idea why, they still tried being nice... which was a first. "Demyx, stop crying please..."

Demyx wiped his eyes dry, and gave her a thumbs up signal. He didn't want Larxene to think she'd upset him. She had a little. But she wasn't to know why, and Demyx doubted that he'd ever tell her. Hell, he hadn't even told his old best friend.

But he wouldn't be seeing his old best friend again. Nu uh. No way. Not in a million years. Not even to save his new best friend's life. His new best friend being Axel of course.

But Axel knew about it. Or the boy should... Axel was the first person Demyx turned to...

"Alright Demie, I gotta go... Bye Axel..." the latter was said with a hint of sarcasm, and did Axel detect a whiff of ... love in the former?

As Larxene wandered off, Axel stared at Demyx.

"'Demie'?" Axel asked, trying to stifle the snickers, failing miserably of course.

"Shut up!" Demyx laughed, hitting Axel on the arm.

"So, why can't you come over later again?" asked Axel, smirking, he knew the answer to this one.

"...I'm ... out..." Axel laughed, slapping Demyx on the back. "What?"

"Now where might you be going out to... or should I say, _who_ will you be going with?" Demyx blushed, and started to mumble something, stuttering slightly. "Larxene right?"

Demyx nodded meekly, and Axel sighed. He was going to lose both best friends to the dangerous trickery of something some people called 'love'.

To some it was a virtue, but to others it was a poison.

Axel knew what 'love' did to you, it sucked out your innards and fed them to Lady Luck's pet goldfish.

That's what love did to Kairi anyways, and this was evident in the girl's current situation. And Sora's. Axel would walk round town and see Sora moping about in the chip shop. It was the only place you could ever find him nowadays, considering that it was the holidays. And it had been exactly three weeks since Kairi had left and he hadn't heard from her since. Maybe she blamed him for what had happened.

Maybe...

"Axel?" Axel drifted out of his dream world where he was not just stuck with Larxene and Demyx, where the visions of 'lovers arguments' melted away with the sea that lapped at his knees, as he sat next to Kairi, and next to Kairi was Sora. And they were holding hands. And everything was happy.

Was he missing something from his perfect world?

Of course he was. But he knew that in his perfect world the sound of his baby sister's tinkly laughter would shatter his dreams. A reminder of what happened. But in his perfect world it didn't happen... Right?

Now, even his dreams chased him, and confused him, and killed him inside...

"Axel? Axel, are you okay...?" Demyx asked his friend, worried. Axel shook his head and wiped his eyes. He knew he'd been crying, he just couldn't be bothered to stop, nothing mattered any more anyway.

"Mm... Mm hmm..." he mumbled. Demyx smiled and patted Axel's back.

"Gotta go now Axel... sorry... I promise I'll come to yours later, kay? Bye!" And with a hop, skip and a jump, Demyx made his merry way home to get ready. Axel sighed and stood up. He might as well be getting home now.

.O.x.O.

"_She left_."

This news hit Axel hard on the head, his reaction about as subtle as a Wakka-like creature painted purple dancing about naked on a park bench shouting about 'I'M BEING VERY SUBTLE'. It hit Axel about as hard as a ton bricks about the head, making him reach up to cradle the side of his head with one hand. His face was contorted with shock, the look one is expected to wear when they receive news of their sister running away or when they see a purple-painted Wakka dancing around naked on a park bench. Still shouting about 'I'M BEING VERY SUBTLE!'

"Axel?" asked Demyx, his voice lightly laced with worry as he poured himself a glass of orange juice, fresh from his date with Larxene about half an hour ago. He must have enjoyed himself, he'd been doing nothing but smiling, until he saw Axel was doing the opposite as he spoke on the phone.

Axel barely heard Demyx's voice, Ariel's own one that didn't really sound that worried considering her only (well, not only daughter, but the scene calls for drama) daughter had vanished into the wide blue yonder cutting into Axel's ears through the phone.

"What do you mean, she left?" asked Axel in a shaky voice. Ariel was cut off as she rambled on about Yunalesca and 'thy should honor thy father and thy mother and general crap like that. She didn't used to be a Sunday School teacher for nothing, and took every opportunity to lecture them on Yevon. Now was a perfect moment, as Kairi running away was obviously not respecting her parents. But her mother never respected her, ever since she arrived on her doorstep like a delivered pizza.

"_Really, dear, it's no need to panic. We've already sent the police out looking for her, and she can't have gone far with her little stubby legs. It's not like she was the best child at cross-country in PE or anything, what did her teacher always say, she couldn't run for more than five minutes without collapsing-_"

Axel let Ariel's hateful voice wash over him in a sea of abuse.

If Kairi didn't want to stay with Ariel, she wouldn't stay with Ariel. She was stubborn like that, and it wasn't like it was the middle ages. In the twenty-first century they had a little thing called public transportation. Kairi could be on a bus half-way to Atlantica by now.

"_And who would want to kidnap _Kairi? _It's not like she's anything sp- Naminé, put that down honey, no, put it down. I SAID PUT IT DOWN!_" roared Ariel, something that sounded like breaking crockery playing in the background.

That was the final straw.

Ariel wasn't going to do anything about Kairi.

Axel slammed the phone down, fingers shaking uncontrollably.

"Axel? What's wrong?" Demyx tried again, waving his cup of orange juice around as he spoke.

"K-Kairi... She ran away..."

Silence over-took the kitchen for a few seconds. Well, it wasn't really silent, Axel's breathing shaky as he attempted to get his lungs under control and failing miserably. Axel did love his sister, after all, even though he had memories and photographs of him slyly pinching her when she was little and stealing her toys.

"Oh my God."

Demyx's previous actions (a.k.a the waving around of a cup brim-full of Tropicana) became more violent, as orange juice flew through the air and landed on the microwave. The microwave made a strange hissing noise like a cat and it started to spark ominously, but Axel was past caring. He simply made a mental notation never to warm bacon up in the microwave again in case it ended in death and also never to tell Cloud of this.

Axel could see the headlines now.

_The great soldier Cloud Strife finally meets his match against faulty microwave and bacon._

What jolly jipes.

If jipes is even a word, which Axel highly doubted it was.

Demyx had fallen against the counter, the now empty cup rolling away under the fridge, having been dropped on the floor a few seconds ago.

This made Axel mad.

Why was Demyx, Demyx of all people, seemingly more worried than he himself was? What right did Demyx have to fuss over his little sister. Yeah, Kairi was Axel's little sister and if anybody was going to be sat front-row at her funeral on those uncomfy seats bawling their brains out it was Axel. Not Demyx – this was a family matter and he had nothing to do with it! Unless he wanted to play a piece on his sitar in loving memory of Kairi Strife or something, as Axel took piano lessons once and sent his instructor running out of the room tearing out his hair in despair. Later he was asked very kindly never to come back again as the elderly instructor's ears could only handle so much crap before he turned completely deaf.

"What right do you have to cry over it?" asked Axel bitterly, eyes narrowed.

"I have plenty of reasons-"

"You're so damned over-protective of Kairi and I'm sick of it! It'd be okay if you were like a normal friend who tried to sympathize and hand out chocolate biscuits so I could eat away my troubles and get fat and just be there if I wanted to cry to somebody! NORMAL friends don't cry along with them and be even more emo than the situation calls for! It's embarrassing watching _you_ cry over Kairi! You have no right, SHE'S NOT YOUR SISTER!"

Axel's fists were clenched at his sides, and he looked a little scary.

Demyx backed away from Axel, fire seeming to light in his eyes, and wondered if the red-head had his lighter on him and if he should run for it.

"So what are these 'plenty of reasons' you have?"

"My sister."

"You don't _have_ a sister," said Axel scornfully. "You don't know what it's like to be worried sick over them... You don't know..."

"I don't have a sister. Not anymore... I have a tombstone somewhere as a reminder, and I don't even have that anymore because some vandals probably smashed it all up so it's just a pile of rubble now! _You_ don't know what it's like having a sister who is really dead! You obviously don't remember, when I told you – ages ago, we were about six – and cried for _ages_. I didn't want the same thing to happen to you because you're my friend, and I didn't ever want you to have to worry about Kairi or sit there in a church while some vicar who doesn't even know her preaches on about how good and wonderful she was, probably getting her name wrong several times in the process, all the while checking his watch as if he can't wait for it to end! The last true memory you'll have of being with your sister, even if she is closed up in a coffin, and some old guy _checks his watch through the whole fucking thing_ and doesn't care one iota about you! I didn't want you to have to go through that!"

Memories flooded through Axel's head, of Demyx crying, actually crying, when he used to be so happy. Memories were scary things, and these were probably the scariest flash-backs Axel had ever had.

How could he have been so heartless and insensitive to have forgotten about Rikku?

Little Rikku.

Little Kairi.

Axel didn't want to sit through any of the events Demyx described, didn't want another grave-stone as the only thing left to remind him of Kairi that vandals would probably destroy for a bit of fun. He didn't want a pile of rubble as the Kairi's final resting place under some dying apple-tree, completely devoid of flowery bouquets because Cloud and Ariel couldn't be bothered to say goodbye to her. Axel didn't want that at all.

First little Rikku, then little Kairi, and Naminé probably wasn't that close behind.

Ariel wasn't a very responsible mother.

The cemetery was crowded enough as it was, thank you very much.

"I-I'm sorry, Dem... I forgot..."

"Everybody forgets. I forget things about her day by day, like what colour eyes she had and her face shape and her hair. I don't want Kairi to become a tombstone and a photograph to you."

"Oh, _Demyx_."

"I'm sorry for caring."

Axel smiled softly at his rather gormless-looking friend.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to make sure she's alright. I'm going to find her myself."

.X.o.X.

Roxas gulped down another glass of orange juice before turning to his brother.

"Now, Sora, I'm not meant to speak to you, but seriously tell me what was so interesting and amazing about that... that girl... erm... what was her name... erm..." Sora lifted his head from looking outside the window, and blinked his large blue eyes. Although, nowadays they were usually red from crying too much.

"Kairi. Her name was Kairi, and she wasn't 'interesting' and 'amazing', she was the only thing I had..." Roxas groaned, ready for a great long ramble from Sora about how much Kairi meant to him and how much he missed her, and how much he resented all those years he hated her... and crap like that... But it didn't come.

When Roxas looked back, Sora wasn't there. Instead the other was at the door, to answer it. Without Roxas realising, the doorbell had rung. When Sora opened the door, a flurry of what seemed to be dancing flames, appeared, hovering on the doorstep. It grabbed Sora by the wrist and into a car. Roxas shrugged.

"Bye Sora!" he called after him.

.X.x.X.

_A/N: -LE GASPE- What a train of plot-twisting revelations... and stuff..._

_WE HAVE LOTS MORE PLANNED FOR NEXT TIME'S INSTALLATION OF -cheesy music plays- CHIIIIIIIPS!!_

_I'm pretty sure Skitts wrote some of this... /ponders non-existant bread/_

_Yes, bread._

_Anyways... You likey?_

_Or no likey?_

_Cuz I dunno..._


	10. boxes

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chaptereleven.

_.boxes._

Axel turned the radio off, he thought it might have helped calm them, but each of the three boys in the car were too jumpy and nervous to be able to concentrate on anything at that moment. But the main reason he switched it off was because Kairi's favourite song had just switched on. And after a few lines Axel couldn't take it any more.

"_I'm so tired of being here,_

_"Suppressed by all my childish fears,_

"_And if you have to leave,_

"_I wish that you would just leave_

"_'Cause your presence still lingers here,_

"_And it won't leave me alo-"_

Axel shifted uncomfortably in his seat. They still had another six or seven hours to go before they got to Hollow Bastion, and once they got there, how would they know that Kairi was actually there? Maybe she'd toddled off somewhere, like gone to Halloween Town or somewhere they'd never be able to guess.

He looked in the mirror and saw Sora was asleep. How could he fall asleep? Axel turned to his right and saw that Demyx too was sleeping, but he wasn't sleeping happily. To be honest it looked like he was having some sort of freaked-up fit.

Axel gulped. He had been hoping Demyx would take over the wheel sooner or later, but now it seemed that the next driver's switch would be in a couple of hours.

How long did Axel's caffeine bursts last again?

Hopefully long enough.

Except, hope wasn't on Axel's side at this very point in time.

At all.

Axel groaned, but immediately shut up hearing Sora whisper something unintelligible in his sleep. It sounded something along the lines of, "I'll give you a clue, it begins with 'S'."

How sweet, he was dreaming about spelling...

Axel hit his head against the back of his seat. This. Was. Not. Happening.

It was so perfect before, with Axel's great toast regime, Kairi's obsession with chips, and Naminé's evil rule. And now, now Kairi was probably out there somewhere, cold, and wet, and... and dead...

"Axel..." muttered the blond next to him. Axel mumbled a 'uh huh?' sounding noise before Demyx continued, "Axel... it's going to be fine... and Kai-Kairi's going to be fine, and we'll all have some cakes after, okay?" Demyx yawned and fell back to sleep again.

Axel brushed his arm against his eyes and decided that maybe the radio would make things better...

.O.x.O.

Kairi stepped off the train, and as soon as she did she realised that she wasn't going to be able to think of somewhere to go automatically as she had previously thought. The town was dark, the sky was a pretty shade of blue, black and purple, and the houses were all made with dark red brick, creating the illusion that there is not actually something there, just a blank nothingness. That was probably why Kairi kept bumping into things, but the other reason might be because she was tired, and lonely and she missed Axel. But then again, she had missed Axel all the weeks she had been away from him, and Sora, she'd missed Sora too, but she wasn't going to admit that to herself; she had forced herself into believing he was a damned traitor who had only pretended to like her so he wouldn't be lonely at school. But now he was.

"HA!"

It only took a few more minutes before Kairi sighed as she bumped her head yet again on a wall.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

Kairi flipped round, expecting a murderer with a jackhammer in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.

Instead she locked her gaze with a brunet with the nicest shiny hair.

Funny. That was the only thing she thought of before she passed out.

.X.o.X.

"No."

Axel turned round to look at Demyx, who had a face of pure gormlessness painted on it. "What now, Demyx?" he asked, getting a little tired of Demyx's constant stops and starts.

Demyx let out a shrill squeak and his behind his friend. Suddenly Demyx's back pocket began to buzz and vibrate.

"_Demyx is cool! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!"_

"You're ass is having a party Demyx, you might want to see why..."

Demyx fumbled with his mobile before he picked it up, to hear someone screaming at him on the other end.

"_DEMYX! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? DID YOU TAKE AXEL WITH YOU? BECAUSE CLOUD AIN'T HAPPY! DEMYXXXXXXX! AND ROXAS HAS BEEN WORRIED LIKE HELL AT SCHOOL; SORA'S MISSING TOO! DEMYX YOU IMBOCILE! GRAH! I DON'T KNOW WHY I- Demyx... Where are you?"_

Demyx blinked. Larxene sure did draw in a crowd when she wanted to. And she hadn't even been there - she was on the other line of a **phone**.

Sora blinked.

Axel blinked.

"Demyx?"

Demyx looked away, and leaning against Axel's back he hoped he wouldn't be seen.

"Demyx, I can see you: you're behind anorexia kid."

"Darn it..." muttered Demyx before turning round and waltzing up to the boy in who was now staring at Demyx like the blond was some sort of idiot. "XIGGY! Xiggy, my old chum... now, sorry about that little outburst there!" Demyx snorted, with the tinge of a giggle coming up as well. Axel and Sora pulled faces, wondering what the hell Demyx was doing, "But... you see, for some reason, I thinjk it happened because... well, I think, because... you're meant to be dead. Because... I'm pretty sure I saw you dying. Pretty sure yeah."

Xigbar looked at Demyx who was a lot shorter than him, and was slightly hugging him, in a 'manly' way of sorts. Xigbar laughed; this was ridiculous!

Demyx's lip trembled, "Wh-What?" he asked innocently.

"I never died, you saw ... you saw me pretend to die okay?" Demyx's eyes started to water.

"Don't give me that crap," he told Xigbar, his voice going high-pitched and squeaky. "Don't give me that crap, you died, and I saw you... You died..." Xigbar fluffed Demyx's hair up.

"If I died, would I be here now?" Demyx gulped and fervently shook his head. "You see, now stop being stupid. You didn't see me die..."

Axel saw the dull sparkle in the older boy's eyes. He was lying. And Demyx wasn't going to fall for it. But then again... the random boy certainly didn't look dead...

"Stop it... stop telling me crap... stop it..." Demyx shoved Xigbar's arm off his head and ran away, tears falling desperately from his eyes.

"Yeah, erm, we'll go after him in a bit, but erm... have you heard of a girl called Kairi?" asked Axel, a little hesitantly, using hand gestures to get Sora to run after Demyx.

Xigbar's eyes lightened, "Kairi? Why?"

"Sister... we got a call from my mom telling me she ran away, I was... I was wondering if you might know where she went..."

"Now... Kairi's brother eh? Never talked about you... hm. Well, I wouldn't know where she is. She was usually with me at school... But she was quiet, don't really know her, she was cool though..."

Axel's mouth dropped open, "Co-Cool...?"

"Yeah, loads of boys thought they loved her... I found it quite funny actually... Well, I'll be off," Axel just stared ahead as 'Xigbar' walked away.

"A-Axel... Axel, what's the matter?" Axel felt a tug at his shirt, he looked down and saw Sora, who had Demyx quietly sniffing behind him. Axel batted Sora away.

"She was ... cool... over here... mayb-maybe she thought that we were the fault she was bullied..." Axel began, but stopped as soon as he saw the tears welling up in the younger boy's eyes. "Erm... it's okay Sora, I'm sure she doesn't blame you... I'm sure... But... erm... Demyx, what was all that about earlier?" Axel quickly trying to divert the conversation into something that didn't end up with Axel having a weeping kid on his knees ranting about love, and another boy having a fun time running away.

Sora sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve, "Yeah Demyx... what's the matter with you?" Demyx shrugged and walked in what he hoped was the direction of Ariel's house. In vain of course.

"Demyx. Demyx, wrong way." Demyx swivelled round on his heels and went the 'right way'.

.O.x.O.

"Hi Kairi! You're in my old school!!"

Kairi groaned, and turned over. The girl tutted.

"Well, I'll come back later, unless you want to wake up now – I have food!" Kairi's head sprang up. Food? This crazy girl had _food_? Kairi was there! The girl laughed as Kairi appeared by her side with a plate stolen from the table, holding it out, prepared for some breakfast. "Hungry, eh? Hey, Squall! C'm'in here!"

Kairi watched as a tall figure came looming into view. Her eyes were still gunked up with sleep, so maybe going over to Yuffie for the simple need of food was a stupid idea.

Kairi fell hard and fast onto the floor.

"Ow..." muttered Yuffie, helping her up, "You do this alot, right?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Kairi replied. She felt a rasp in her breath, as her words came out jagged and hurtful. Kairi coughed, and squeezed her eyes shut. It was all a dream. She was back. Back where she was most needed.

Except...

Somehow she _knew_ she wasn't needed anywhere. She knew. She knew. Knew. Knew. Knew!

"Oh..." came Yuffie's pained reply, "I'm sorry... I'll just get your food... Sorry. Squally will look after you fine," the older girl gave a quick, scared smile before turning back to the sink.

"Don't call me 'Squally', Yuffie."

Yuffie sniffed, "Okay..." she mumbled.

'Squall'/'Squally' turned towards Kairi and watched her for a moment, wondering about her, "So, where are you from?" he asked, carefully.

"Destiny Islands. But then I moved to Hollow Bastion. Then I ran away here."

"Hm. What's your name?"

"Kairi Strife."

"Strife? I knew a Strife once. Was my tutor, then he ran off with some ditz called Ariel. She your mother?"

"Yes."

"Do you like her?"

"I hate her."

"Is there anyone you like?"

"No." Kairi gulped as she said this, words creasing her mind, lines, phrases, names, pets, everything fell down. "NO!" she screamed, clutching her head, falling on her knees to the floor.

Yuffie looked up, worried. Squall ruffled the older girl's hair and moved back to Kairi, who was sobbing on the floor.

"What's wrong, Strife?" he asked, propping her up.

"Don't call me Strife."

"Why not?"

"By calling me Strife, you're giving me an identity."

"Identity?"

"I'm no one. Why should I have an identity?"

"There's no reason. So, why did you tell me your name."

"Because you asked for it!" Kairi snapped back.

Squall inhaled sharply. "Yuffie, please help."

Yuffie walked over to Kairi, Kairi glared at her, "Hi Kairi... is this about Sora... or Riku... or Selphie?" Kairi nodded as Yuffie ticked off some names from her mind's list. "Has Sora hurt you again?" Kairi shook her head. "Riku?" Kairi nodded, "What about Selphie?"

With that Kairi burst into tears.

.X.o.X.

"A-And then... And then I saw Olette _kissing_ him! And I-I ran away, an-and Sora was at th-the store... an-and I ra-ran away... and the-then the day after Rik-Riku hit me an-and I got knocked ou-out and So-Sora saved me. A-And then Axel made it be-better for m-me and Sora. And then I had to m... m... move... and I left Sora... and Axel... and Demyx... an-and my mo-mom th-thought I was going crazy... and that's when I... when I ran away..." Kairi sniffed, rubbing her tear filled eyes.

"Kairi..." mumbled Yuffie, as Squall (who Kairi had found out was actually 'Leon') stood over the two.

"It's okay... 'cause no one cares about me anymore, not even my mom, she never did. Ever. B-But, there are people worse off. I just have a stupid problem, I could just take the train back, right? A-And then tell my mom that I'm okay."

Yuffie sighed. Leon turned to look Kairi in the eye, "You'd only run away again. If I were you, I'd run home."

Kairi's eyes glazed over. She wondered what home was, "You mean... Destiny Islands...?"

"Yes. The people there will be worried. I know they will."

"B-But Riku once tried to kill me..."

"I know. That's what will make them worried. Don't you see? If you run away, they've got themselves to blame, them and only them. If you go back, then they'll be fine, happy, in fact. They won't bully you again."

Kairi shuddered.

"They will..." she breathed. But Leon ignored her. Yuffie smiled, and patted Kairi's knee.

"In the end, it will be okay, everything will be fine. I promise."

Kairi smiled. She wondered how naïve Yuffie had to be to realise that promises are always broken.

There was a muffled shout from outside. Leon walked towards the door and peered out over the balcony.

"Shit! The boxes have fallen, again. I think someone's underneath!"

Kairi's eyes widened.

"Can I go with you?" she asked, her hands clasped together.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"You'd come anyway."

Kairi got up and followed Leon outside to the alleyway. When she saw the boy crushed beneath the boxes, she felt sick, red liquid seeped out from beneath one of the boxes, making her feel weak at the knees. She hoped the boy was alright. She climbed over to him, pushing in front of Leon and shoving boxes away from the bleeding boy.

Then she realised.

"Axel! My Axel! My... Axel..." she mumbled, picking up the upper half of his limp body, unable to grab the rest, as they were still being held captive by the hard, wooden boxes. She licked her finger and swept away the blood on his face.

Leon soon moved the rest of the boxes off of Axel, and carried him back to the hotel.

There, Yuffie waited in silence.

She wondered what the scream from Kairi could have been about. Everything sounded muffled in the room, she couldn't tell what Kairi had screamed.

When Leon marched in with Axel over his back, and Kairi with her eyes streaming by his side, she knew what the scream had been about.

"Lay him on here, Squall..." Yuffie mumbled, motioning to the bed she was sat upon.

Kairi babied over Axel for the rest of the evening, even though he didn't seem to be waking up any time soon.

Yuffie had brought her water and tissues to wipe scratches and places where nails had dug into, and for splinters.

But, Kairi could see it wasn't working. She wondered why Axel was even there, as she ran a soft hand down his cheek. At least he was breathing.

There was another muffled shout coming from outside, but this time it was calling for someone, and Kairi's head perked up.

She ran out onto the balcony, and jumped down in a mad haste to find that voice. However, she didn't need to look far; he was in the same place where the boxes had fallen.

.X.o.X.

Sora felt something warm and soft push itself against him, he looked down and found Kairi, hugging him tightly. He blinked, not believing what he saw, but soon tears began trickling from his eyes.

"Kairi?" he gasped, not finding enough air to speak properly. Demyx just stood and watched, his mouth hanging open.

"But, what about Axel?" Kairi gave a muffled squeak as Demyx said this, "You know where he is?" Demyx leaned in on Kairi, who backed away into Sora. Sora wrapped his arms round Kairi and looked around. That was when he caught sight of the blood.

"Kairi? Kairi... wh-what happened...? Kairi, I'm scared..." Kairi nodded in reply, and made a faint whimper.

.x.x.x.

**A/N:** _Soooo... did you like it? It's almost coming to an end... Almost... not quite... well... I think it's almost anyway... Oh yeah, and people like Hayner and Pence and Aerith, don't worry ... they come back... THEY COME BACK!! But not in the last chapter... which is next chapter..._


	11. funnyHOWlifeTURNSout

(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chaptertwelve.

.funny.HOW.life.TURNS.out.

Whispers of how 'she was back' and how 'he was back' sang through the halls as Sora and Kairi made their slow and careful way through. Sora had an arm round her shoulders, and Kairi had made herself comfortable like that. Her head was bent down, and the books in her hands, had so far, not been touched by any bullies, or people wanting to give her misery.

Everyone was just staring at them.

Kairi felt their eyes burn her back, her front, her sides. Their stares hurt. But, nowadays, everything hurt.

"KAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" came an ecstatically happy voice, "OMMMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGG! WE MISSSSSSSSED YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU AND WE WERE ALL 'WHERE'S KAIRI?' AND THEN WE WERE LIKE 'WE WILL FIND HER' BUT WE DIDN'T AND NOW YOU'RE HERE SO IT'S O-" Rey was stopped mid word by a quick pull back from Lolli. The black haired girl gave a sympathetic smile and shoved her fist into Rey's mouth. Kairi nodded back. Rey grinned, and gave her a two-fingered salute.

If anyone could make both Sora and Kairi smile at a time like that, it was Rey. Simply because of the way she was oblivious to everything and smiled all the time.

"S'alright, Lolli..." mumbled Kairi, Lolli gently let her fist out of Rey's mouth. Rey immediately jumped up.

"DOES THAT MEAN I CAN TALK, KAIRI? Oh... and Sora!!" Kairi gave quick glance to Sora, who grinned evilly.

"Shut her up, Lolz." He smirked, Rey just pouted as best she could before Lolz shoved her fist back in the younger's mouth. Kairi could feel Rey's glare burn her back more than the other stares.

"It was mean, Sora," she smiled, a tiny smile, but a smile nonetheless. Sora grinned.

"I know, but someone had to do it someday..." he told her, ruffling her auburn locks. "Besides, they went looking for you, and forgot about me!" Kairi grinned.

"Aren't they wonderful?" she replied.

Sora grabbed Kairi in a tight hug, "Not as wonderful as you!"

Some hacking coughs and mock sickness could be heard from behind.

"I guess they didn't get anything to hold her back, though..." muttered Sora under his breath, watching Rey be dragged back by Chell and Lolli.

"They'd need a bear trap to do it..."

"True..."

Kairi sighed, and reached inside her locker, bringing out some more books.

"You know, Leon said a stupid thing, but I don't know, it might be true. He said that everyone – especially Riku and Selphie – would have been worried about me."

Sora blinked, "And you don't think they have?" Kairi stood at her locker, leaning against it, breathing heavily. She shook her head, and squeezed her eyes shut. _All a dream, all a dream._

Her breathing became heavier and raspier, and Sora wanted to do something about it. But he couldn't...

Even if he-

"Kairi!" Kairi looked up sharply and suddenly, clinging onto her was Selphie, her eyes streaming and her mascara running; she looked terrible. Kairi's breathing grew more and more rapid, Sora was surprised she wouldn't need an inhaler any second. Kairi kept shooting nervous glances to Sora as Selphie told Kairi how much she had been missed, and then Riku came and said sorry to Kairi about a million times. He too, looked upset, but she couldn't tell if he'd been crying or not.

Then the twin came.

Sora's eyes narrowed.

Roxas whimpered. Sora breathed in heavily, and tried to ignore the boy.

Kairi watched Roxas near her, and her pulse went off the chart. She could hear her heart beat, as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ivory ear. What was he going to do to her? She could feel his breath on her face, so she turned away, not wanting to ruin this baby-like feeling she had. If she got hurt, then the freshness would evaporate.

Roxas gently placed his hand on Kairi's chin and twisted her head round. Kairi looked into his eyes, and saw the redness in them.

Then he turned away, and disappeared into the crowds.

Sora lingered for a moment, before kissing Kairi on the cheek and running after Roxas. Selphie's group and Riku's gang watched as Kairi sank onto the floor, in helpless tears. Selphie wasn't sure on what to do, so she sat by Kairi on the floor, closely followed by her group. Riku leant by the lockers, stopping anyone from watching Kairi cry, the rest of his gang quickly realised what he was doing and followed his example.

"Kairi... what's wrong?" asked Selphie.

Kairi sniffed.

"You can tell me, I promise."

Another promise, just waiting to be broken. Yuffie had promised.

And she had been _wrong_. She had been so **_WRONG_**!

Kairi let out a short scream, "She was WRONG!" she screeched, her feet kicking the floor impatiently. As though she were waiting for something to happen, someone to come, her life to make a circle and get cured.

"Kai! Kairi, I'm here, Kairi!" a familiar voice called out to Kairi, and she stood up quickly, rushing to the voice. She ran into Demyx and Larxene, who hugged her back. They looked like on of those 'Happy Family's, except they weren't so happy considering the amount of crying going on from all of them.

.O.x.O.

Kairi sat in the lap of Sora, as Larxene and Demyx sat by each other. She was laying back, as his arms were wrapped round her. She never wanted to leave.

_We're all here._

It all felt right.

_We came for you._

Nothing was out of place.

_I'll never leave you._

Demyx soon drifted off to sleep.

_You made it for me._

Kairi picked at a flower as she thought about everything that had happened.

_I lost it for you._

Heavy breathing could be heard from Larxene.

_You never gave up on me._

She soon felt Sora's breathing become heavy.

_I'll never give up on you._

Kairi drifted off into sleep.

_I'll miss you, Axel._

.X.o.X.

Chips. Chips make life better. Much better. That's what she needed. Chips.

.x.x.x.

**L/N:** _Did you cry?_

No.

_Did you expect it?_

Yes.

_Did you like the ending?_

What happened to all those other random side characters you had?

_That's what an epilogue is for._

Oh.

_Anything else?_

Why are you talking to yourself?

_... Shut up..._

_Anyway, please review or epilogue doesn't go up and a load of the story has just gone to waste... Smileeeeeeee!!_


End file.
